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He returned a negative STI check, and even called the Lifeblood hotline to check his eligibility to donate blood as a queer man on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), an antiretroviral drug that is highly effective in preventing HIV. “I think seeing that made me really want to donate when I could, so when I was old enough I did for as long as I could.”Ĭottier has the blood type O-, a type that is considered extremely common, but can only receive donations from other people with O-, making it incredibly in demand.Īnd so, Cottier waited out his three months, making sure every necessary check was made to ensure there would be no hindrances. “I remember going to the local bloodmobile that would pull up outside our little town hall with my Mum as a kid and watching her squeeze the little red stress ball as the bag next to her filled with blood,” Cottier told PEDESTRIAN.TV. The only thing that was in his way now was a three-month celibacy period, and everything would be in the all-clear to donate. However, queer men who are on the HIV prevention drug PrEP are still asked to go an entire year without the medication before they can donate.ĭaniel Cottier, a 27-year-old director and producer from NSW who campaigned for the 12-month waiting period to be reduced, decided to abstain from sex for three months in order to donate. Instead of needing to wait 12 months in celibacy, the abstinence requirement was shorted to three. Our protocols for transgender donors aren’t affected by whether or not you’ve had gender affirmation surgery.įor more information, including if you’re taking pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis (PrEP), visit our sexual activity page.Late last year, changes were made to laws that prevented queer men from donating blood if they had engaged in sex with another man. What if I have had gender affirmation surgery? That means that if you’re on hormone replacement therapy, you can still donate. That’s why we’ve developed specific protocols for assessing haemoglobin, iron levels and blood volume.
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We make some adjustments to account for biological differences that may be affected by hormonal treatments. The way we interpret some blood tests such as the haemoglobin test changes too.Īre there different procedures for collecting blood from transgender donors? For example, female donors have a smaller blood volume than their male counterparts of the same height and weight, so the amount of blood we can safely collect is smaller. There are some other important biological differences that affect blood donation, many of them related to your welfare. Note that this restriction only affects platelet donation - female and transgender donors can still give plasma and whole blood donations. The restriction also applies to trans male donors as well as trans female donors, who are affected by fail-safe mechanisms built in to Lifeblood’s blood management system.
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For instance, we can’t use platelets from female donors because of the increased risk of a rare but dangerous reaction called transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) that’s associated with antibodies in plasma. Your biology can also affect the patient. If you’ve had sex with a male or transgender partner in the last 3 months, you’ll need to wait 3 months from that contact before you can donate. Yes, but there are a couple of restrictions.