Challenging the blood donation ban on LGBTQ+ individuals in India

a medico-legal and public policy analysis

Resumen

This paper both historicizes and contextualizes the contemporary US Food and Drug Administration(FDA)  blood donation policy banning men who have sex with men and transgender individuals although in 2023 they have changed their old policies and made new recommendations where MSM and LGBTQ+ community can donate blood but coming to India we are still following the age-old policies. These policies found their roots in the 1980s at the outset of the HIV/AIDS crisis, when fear and misinformation coupled the disease first and foremost with homosexual men, leading to lasting stigmatization and discriminatory practices. Yet, with all the strides made in blood testing technology and a better understanding of the HIV transmission process, such archaic policies thrive not just in India but in several other countries also. The paper contributed to this area while summarizing the evolution of knowledge on HIV, the window period for HIV detection, and international blood donation guidelines and argued that the blanket ban is not only lacking in scientific basis but also constitutionally unsound and violated basic human rights. It discriminates against gay men in monogamous relationships wherein heterosexual men who have multiple sexual partners are given the chance to be blood donors. This paper wishes the Indian government to act on rational reasoning with scientific grounds regarding blood donation, and eligibility where there can be deferrals of 90 days for MSM and transgender persons. These policies, upon updating, shall massively add to the potential blood donor pool that would save thousands of lives. This could best be crowned by the replacement of stigma with science on the road to a safe, inclusive blood donation.