Lifeblood ending long-standing restrictions on gay and bisexual blood donors

Credit: Australian Red Cross Lifeblood

Lifeblood will stop asking male blood donors if they have had sex with a man from April 20.

Gay and bisexual men and transwomen who have sex with men were required to wait three months after their last sexual encounter before being allowed to donate blood under old rules.

Spokesperson for the Let Us Give campaign, Rodney Croome AM, welcomed the change.

Croome said the previous rules were “unfair, discriminatory and inaccurate”.

The new donor questionnaire will ask everyone the same question, regardless of gender.

Donors who have had a new sexual partner or multiple sexual partners in the past half year will be asked if they have had anal sex in the past three months.

If they have, then they cannot donate blood for six months.

Croome said the six-month deferral period was a “shame”.

He said it felt like Lifeblood was doubling the deferral period because they think it’s “inherently risky to be gay”.

“Lifeblood is sending the negative message that because gay, bisexual and transgender people can now donate, the monogamy requirements must be stricter,” he said.

“This will unnecessarily limit the amount of safe blood collected and will reinforce traditional myths and stereotypes about LGBTIQA people, monogamy and sexual risk.”

Lifeblood’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jo Pink, acknowledged last year that the current donation rules had been “very difficult” for the LGBTQIA+ community.

“While they were put in place to ensure a safe blood supply in the past, we know that they’ve contributed to the stigma faced by the community,” Dr Pink said.

Croome compared Lifeblood’s changes to similar rules in the US, UK and Canada, where gay and bisexual male blood donors must be monogamous for three months instead of six.

Croome has been campaigning against the gay blood ban for most of his adult life.

He hopes Lifeblood will reintroduce the three-month deferral period after the new rules take effect on April 20.

“Three months is already very cautious,” he said.

Dr Bryant Koh, Lifeblood Medical Director, Donor and Product Safety, estimated the new rules would bring in about 15,000 new donors.

“The main aim of changing these sexual activity rules, of course, is that we will be more inclusive and allow more people to be eligible to donate blood,” Dr Koh said.

“That includes many gay and bisexual men in long-term monogamous relationships,” he said.

Dr Koh said maintaining the safety of the blood supply was Lifeblood’s priority.

He said the greatest risk that had been considered for the new rules was HIV.

“Even though there is exquisitely good testing, no testing completely removes the risk of a potential transmission should the donor be infected.”

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and blood-borne virus that attacks the body’s immune system.

HIV is a life-long disease, but treatment can suppress the virus.

The Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney releases annual reports on the safety of the Australian blood supply.

The Kirby Institute reported more than 30,000 Australians were living with HIV in 2023.

The number of Australians diagnosed with HIV declined by a third from 2014 to 2023. 

Australia aims to eliminate HIV transmission by 2030.

Lifeblood’s gender-neutral blood donor questionnaire was approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration last year.

“The previous rules were initially introduced in the 1980s when HIV was first discovered and recognised,” Dr Koh said.

Wait times for gay and bisexual men and transwomen blood donors were reduced to 12 months in 2000, then three months in 2021.

Most people unable to donate blood can still donate plasma through Australia’s international first Plasma Pathway, established last year.

Dr Koh said more than 6,500 donations and 2,700 donors had come from the Plasma Pathway.

More than 580,000 people donated blood last year, totalling more than 1 million litres.

Dr Koh said research had shown the new donor eligibility rules posed no extra risk.

“At this stage, the focus really is about getting this change moving and implemented, and then reviewing to see what potential changes might come down the track,” he said.

Health Equity Matters CEO Dash Heath-Paynter said the new rules could save lives.

“We welcome these upcoming changes to gender-neutral assessments, which will further reduce stigma for members of the LGBQTIA+ community,” Heath-Paynter said.

Chad Hughes, CEO of Thorne Harbour Health, formerly the Victorian AIDS Council, said: “Lifeblood’s recent policy changes demonstrate a meaningful acknowledgment of the barriers faced by LGBTIQA+ donors.”

“We see this as a move in the right direction,” Hughes said.

“We look forward to Lifeblood continuing this work through regularly reviewing emerging research and adjusting policies accordingly,” he said.

Croome said Lifeblood’s purpose was to save more lives. 

“That purpose will be fulfilled by allowing us to donate.”

This story was published in The Advocate March 11, 2026.