ABOVE: Nitzan Horowitz (L) protests homophobia. Photo via Horowitz’s Facebook page.
JERUSALEM (AP) | Israel has lifted restrictions on blood donations by gay men, saying the longstanding limitation was discriminatory and denigrating, Israel’s health minister said Aug. 19.
Earlier this year the U.K. eased restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, following a similar decision by the U.S. last year because of a drop in the nation’s blood supply.
Until Aug. 19, men seeking to donate blood in Israel were asked whether they had same-sex relations in the past 12 months, a category that would disqualify them from giving. Now the questionnaire inquires whether a prospective donor has had “high risk sexual relations with a new partner or partners” in the past three months, using gender neutral wording.
Nitzan Horowitz, Israel’s health minister, who himself is openly gay, wrote in a Facebook post that the Health Ministry had “removed the denigrating and irrelevant questions” in questionnaires for blood donors, and that everyone would be treated equally regardless of sexual orientation.
“There is no difference between blood and blood,” he wrote. “Discrimination against gay people in blood donations is over. It was a remnant of a stereotype belonging to history. For years they have been trying in Israel to fix this discrimination without success, and today finally, we have progressed.
“When I entered the Ministry of Health, I assumed to immediately stop the discrimination against homosexuals in this matter, and so we did,” he continued. “Today we removed the humiliating and irrelevant questions in the blood donation questionnaire and every blood donor who comes to save lives will be treated equal, no matter his gender or sexual orientation, whether he is LGBTQ or straight. After the surrogacy revolution, the trans community outreach program, and the pre-budget for the gay community, we took another historic step for equality for LGBTQ in Israel, and this is a great pride.”
View and translate the post below:
Israeli LGBTQ rights groups hailed the move as an important step for equality in Israel. Gal Wagner Kolasko, head of the Israeli LGBT Medical Associations, took to Twitter to thank Horowitz for the “historical correction.”
“An end to discrimination in blood donations, thanks to the Minister of Health @NitzanHorowitz,” he wrote, according to a Google translation. “[A historical] correction. From now on blood doses are safe for everyone without discrimination and without human rights violations. Because discrimination also causes severe health damage.”
סוף לאפלייה בתרומות דם, תודה לשר הבריאות @NitzanHorowitz על תיקון היסטוריה. מעכשיו מנות דם בטוחות לכולם בלי אפלייה ובלי פגיעה בזכויות אדם. כי גם אפלייה גורמת לנזק בריאותי קשה
— Gal Wagner Kolasko (@galwagnerko) August 19, 2021
