Blood donation requirement targeting gays dropped

An outdated blood donation requirement targeting gay men was on Wednesday removed from the blood bank’s website following the health ministry’s intervention.

The move is the second update over the last two days in blood donation requirements in an effort to eliminate discrimination against the group in the wording of the blood bank website.

The initial criteria contained a specific category for homosexuals which banned gay men from donating blood unless they had abstained from sex in the last 12 months. Amidst a national uproar, this was on Tuesday changed to “men with a controlled sex life for more than 6 months: Accepted”. Homosexual women remained “Accepted”.

However, the update was viewed as making matters worse, while it sparked confusion on social media.

On Wednesday, the website was updated for the second time, eliminating the whole category for homosexuals entirely. The change was welcomed by the LGBTI+ community.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Constantinos Athanasiou had explained that the problematic wording only concerned the website. The questionnaire blood donors complete only refers to a “controlled sex life” without any discrimination to the person’s sexual orientation.

The update comes about a week after the health ministry urgently appealed for blood donors citing depleted blood banks due to the high number of coronavirus cases and contacts.