[JURIST] The European Court of Justice (ECJ) [official website] on Wednesday restricted [press release, PDF] bans on blood donations from homosexual men. Since 1983, France automatically and permanently banned blood donations from all men who had ever had sex with another man, calling it a measure of safety against spreading the HIV virus. This ban was seen by many critics as a discriminatory action based on sexual orientation. A French man, Geoffrey Léger, filed a lawsuit over the ban in 2009 after he was turned away from a blood bank for admitting to prior sexual relations with another man. The ECJ then examined the case, determining that the ban may be permitted if it was in the best interest to protect the health of others. However, the ECJ limited the ban to apply only under strict conditions. Rather than instilling a blanket ban over the blood donations of all homosexual men, the ECJ stated that acceptance of donations should be determined on an individual basis. The court suggested that questionnaires and individual interviews with donors should be instituted in effort to weed out those with “high-risk sexual behaviour.” Additionally, the ECJ called upon health professionals to determine if there are techniques to effectively detect HIV in the blood, for the health benefit of all donation recipients.

Bans on blood donations from homosexual individuals garner much debate. In 2013 a Northern Ireland judge ruled [JURIST report] that Health Minister Edwin Poots could not continue to enforce the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood, calling the law “irrational.” The UK Department of Health [official website] announced in September 2011 that it would lift the lifetime ban [JURIST report] on blood donations from men who have had sex with other men. An Ontario Superior Court [official website] judge ruled [judgment, PDF] in September 2010 that the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is justified in prohibiting sexually active gay males from donating blood [JURIST report] on the grounds that the CBS discriminates on the basis of health and safety considerations rather than on sexual orientation. In March 2009 a Tasmanian court upheld [JURIST report] an Australian Red Cross [organization website] policy [text] to refuse blood donations from sexually active homosexual males.