For years, many 2S/LGBTQIA+ people have been excluded from donating blood because of a discriminatory and outdated policy from Canadian Blood Services (CBS).
Fortunately, after decades of advocacy from 2S/LGBTQIA+ activists and researchers, CBS established a gender-neutral and behaviour-based approach for screening blood donations. In September 2022, they adopted a new “donor screening questionnaire” – the questions they ask donors to determine if they can or cannot donate. The current questionnaire and approaches used are more inclusive, meaning more 2S/LGBTQIA+ people are able to donate today since the “blood ban” was first instituted in 1992.
However, there are still important limitations on who can donate and when, with many of these rules impacting 2S/LGBTQIA+ people in particular. Download our comprehensive resource below to find out what you need to know about the rules as they are today.
url="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/cbrc/pages/6446/attachments/original/1757449293/CBS_Fact_Sheet_EN.pdf?1757449293
This resource was developed as part of a Canadian Blood Services Microgrant. This program was made possible by the generosity of Canadian Blood Services financial donors.
