New regulations that overturn a lifetime ban preventing gay and bisexual men from donating blood are still discriminatory, according to a local gay rights activist.
This week, Health Canada approved a policy to allow Canadian Blood Services to begin taking donations from gay men, provided they have been celibate for five years before giving blood.
"It's still a policy of discrimination," Pride Prince George president Valentine Crawford said. "There's no scientific reason why there's still a five-year ban where gay men and bisexual men have to abstain. It's ludicrous, regardless of the fact that it is a step in the right direction."
Under existing rules. any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 is not eligible to donate blood. That regulation has been in place for decades due to fears around spreading HIV/AIDS through blood transfusions.
In the 1990s, a Royal Commission chaired by Horace Krever looked into how blood infected with HIV or hepatitis was distributed in Canada.
"We recognize that many people will feel that this change does not go far enough, but given the history of the blood system in Canada, we see this as a first and prudent step forward on this policy," Canadian Blood Services vice-president of medical, scientific and research affairs Dr. Dana Devine said in a statement announcing the new rules. "It's the right thing to do and we are committed to regular review of this policy as additional data emerge and new technologies are implemented."
The new rules will come into effect later this year, but Crawford said the five-year celibacy rule remains unduly onerous.
"We have relationships like everyone else, that's life," he said. "To be abstainate for five years, to me it's just perplexing. Why not that rule across the board?"
Ideally, Crawford would like to see Canada emulate some European countries which screen out potential donors solely based on high-risk behaviour, not on their sexuality.
"This is a conversation that's been going on a long time and there's no reason why that there should be a ban," he said. "Test and screening should be behaviour based. That's what they do in Italy, there is no ban for gay men."
In Italy, anyone - gay or straight - who changes sexual partners must wait four months before donating blood. Meanwhile, in England and Australia men who have had sex with men need to be celibate for one year prior to donating.
If gay and bisexual men were allowed to donate blood more liberally, Crawford doesn't believe the Canadian blood supply would be in peril as other screening tools exist.
"The blood supply already is safe," he said. "Somebody's sexual orientation is not a justifiable means to eliminate a part of the population from donating blood."
