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New Zealand is updating its blood donation protocols, allowing more gay and bisexual men to donate under a new system that removes long-standing restrictions based on sexual orientation. The changes, led by the New Zealand Blood Service, shift toward a behavior-based screening model that applies the same criteria to all donors regardless of their sexuality.
Under the updated rules, all prospective donors will be asked standardized questions about recent sexual activity, replacing previous guidelines that specifically targeted men who have sex with men. The reform aligns New Zealand with a growing number of countries moving toward more inclusive and evidence-based screening processes.
“For the first time, all donors are going to be asked the same questions about recent sexual activity,” Sarah Morley, NZ Blood Service Chief Medical Officer, told The New Zealand Herald in an interview. “The benefits of that are that those questions help us replace current questions where we focus on men who have sex with men.”
“So rather than focusing on an individual group, we can ask the same questions, and we can manage every donor in exactly the same way.”
The previous policy deferred many gay and bisexual men from donating if they had been sexually active within a specified period, typically three months. Critics argued that such rules were outdated and discriminatory, as they focused on sexual orientation rather than actual risk.
The move mirrors similar reforms in other countries, including Australia, where blood donation policies have also shifted toward individual risk assessment. Stephen Cornelissen, chief executive officer of Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, noted the significance of these changes.
“Previous donor rules prevented many people from the LGBTQIA+ community from donating blood or platelets if they’d had sex within the past three months,” Cornelissen said.
“These latest changes mean many gay and bisexual men and transgender people in long-term, monogamous relationships will become eligible to donate blood or platelets.”
The policy shift is expected to expand the donor pool at a time when maintaining stable blood supplies remains a critical public health priority. It also reflects a broader trend toward aligning public health practices with principles of equality and non-discrimination.
Implementation details, including the exact timeline for the new screening process, are expected to be rolled out by the New Zealand Blood Service starting on May 4 in coordination with national health authorities.
In 2023, the U.S. FDA updated its blood donor guidance to prioritize individual behavior over sexual orientation. This shift implements an individualized risk assessment, determining eligibility based on a donor’s number of sexual partners and specific behaviors over a set timeframe. For more information, read here and here.
It is about necessity not equality!
Interesting that even in 2026 there are still many places in the world that’s either still living in the 1970s or just catching up with a coat of subliminal homophobia still prevalent in their roots. The delusional thinking of society as a whole is that gay men are going to infect someone with HIV/AIDS if blood is transfused from them. And maybe back many years ago that may have been true to some degree. But technology have advanced and evolved since then making such cases less likely. The crazy part of it all that medics and scientists would be so… Read more »
You mention ( back then it were true to some degree!) it was more then to some degree it was a fact! At least from my perspective of what I seen,) my two cousins both hemophiliacs , he and she! Recived blood transfusion from a donor of which they needed constant transfusions. It was in the late 80s or 90s, but they both received HIV and the girl even passed away from AIDS the male lived up in Washington and he’s very disabled from it now and now I’ve seen throughout the years of what AIDS have done to his… Read more »
Well, me being young, I might be somewhat naive in this type of department since I’ve never grew up in those times. So, I definitely wouldn’t put myself in someone else’s shoes that I’ve never experienced firsthand to say otherwise. However, I do agree that HIV is a serious and deadly virus that anyone carrying the virus shouldn’t volunteer to give blood (With all due respect to anyone living with said virus.) Due to the risks even if it’s low. My only issue is when medics treat every gay man like we’re a walking living disease simply because of our… Read more »
Also…If you’re taking PreP, you’re supposed to be tested before regularly. As a opposed to someone who hasn’t been tested , donating blood.
You are a good man to have remembered your dead cousin and to remember your suffering cousin!
They could have gotten blood from an IV DRUG ABUSER. Gays aren’t the cause of this disease!!!
We should as well as ling as we are Hiv-
Finally some progress in the World, even if it is in ANOTHER HEMISPHERE!!!
I’m sorry and let the thumbs down wail away. We, as a community, are overly promiscuous. I lived through the AIDS epidemic. The overwhelming majority of cases were gay men who were not practicing safe sex. Given though, at that time most of us believed any STD you caught could be cured with a shot of penicillin in the ass. For a time, it seemed we learned the error of our ways, then, low and behold, monkeypox comes to visit the community; another sign of unbridled,unsafe sex. I guess we didn’t learn much from our mistakes. When the medical profession… Read more »
The policy shift is expected to expand the donor pool at a time when maintaining stable blood supplies remains a critical public health priority This is about necessity not equality
Bull, AIDS is not a GAY DISEASE. It’s spread by straight sex also. Look at AFICA and Haiti!
Why is this an issue anywhere since blood is screened for hiv as well as other sexually transmitted diseases? It shouldn’t matter what you are doing, since the blood will be tested before use. Also, in the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV transmission was never a gay thing since the highest transmissions have always been amongst heterosexuals. How do they restrict one from donating there? Restricting one group because of their sexual activities seems archaic and a disservice to the many people who need transfusions.
It’s because we still live in a homophobic society with “The Powers That Be” still seeing homosexuals as a threat to world’s health. Even the monkeypox which they’ve renamed as MPox for its offensiveness we were literally blamed for its existence as well as spreading it, and that isn’t even a sexual transmitted virus. In short, any disease that causes a global issue, they love to blame gays and people of color (especially blacks) for any pandemic issues in the world.
No one spreads disease better than closeted marry men. Every man married man that I’ve had sex with wanted raw breeding, no questions even asked!
TRUE!!! But I wonder what the Prager Univ studies show??? Lololololol
The US needs to follow suit. It is not plausible or fair to ask someone to wait a full 12 months to have any sexual activity just to donate when the straight community doesn’t have to do that. Kudos to NZ for changing their laws.