Blood Ban Timeline

Canadian Blood Services announces that they have received approval from Health Canada to change to a sexual behaviour based screening criteria. Health Canada has also approved removing criteria that forced asked trans people about lower genital gender affirming surgery and sex assigned at birth.

The changes are expected to be launched in donor centres in September 2022.

In June 2021, a Federal Court judge dismissed the Attorney General of Canada’s application to dismiss Christopher Karas’ case at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, saying that the relationship between Health Canada and Canadian Blood Services and their roles in setting blood policies requires further inquiry by the Tribunal.


Federal judge rejects Health Canada’s claim it has no role in barring gay men from donating blood

15 years after homosexuality stopped being classified as a mental disorder, in May of 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) removes “gender identity disorder” from their International Classification of Diseases (ICD). This means trans individuals are no longer considered to have a mental disorder.


The World Health Organization Will Stop Classifying Transgender People as Having a ‘Mental Disorder’

A reduction from 12 months and another step toward an inclusive, evidence-based deferral, gbMSM can now donate after 3 months of abstinence (from male-male sex).

The 3 month period is chosen because the tests used on donations to check for infections (like HIV, syphilis, or hepatitis) have what is known as a “window period”. This is the time between someone getting an infection and tests being able to reliably detect it. The donor health questionnaire is used to reduce the risk of new infections that are missed by tests from making their way into the blood supply.


Blood-donation deferral period drops to 3 months for gay, bisexual men

A reduction from 5 years and another step toward an inclusive, evidence-based policy, gbMSM can now donate after 1 year of abstinence (from male-male sex).

Health Canada also provides $3 million to Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec to fund research and collect data targeting policy change for men who have sex with men.


Deferral period for sexually active gay men to give blood in Canada cut to one year

Motivated by his work studying a cure for HIV and his desire to help, Stephen McCarthy went to donate blood and found that he was unable due to the exclusion criterion for men who had sex with another man in the past 5 years. He worked with Canadian Blood Services and the LGBT2Q+ community and launched Ally Blood Donor clinics, a solution where those who are ineligible for any reason can bring an eligible volunteer to donate on their behalf.


U of T student spearheads Ally Blood Donor clinics

The Freeman v. Canadian Blood Services case began in 2002 when Mr. Freeman countersued CBS for discrimination due to his sexual orientation. Justice Aitken ultimately sides with CBS, ruling that because CBS is a non-profit organization and is not a government entity, it’s not subject to the Charter. She acknowledges that the permanent ban policy is not justified by evidence (disappointing activist groups by not ordering for this to be rectified), but rules that it is based on health and safety considerations rather than discrimination. She also rules that blood donation is a gift (rather than a right), which CBS is under no legal obligation to accept.


Gay Ont. man loses blood donation negligence suit

Canadian Blood Services’ CEO Gives Initial Reaction to Ontario Superior Court
MSM Ruling

In 2003, Ontario and British Columbia legalized same-sex marriage and in July 2005, Canada legalizes it across the country.


Same-Sex Marriage in Canada

Kyle Freeman, a sexually active gay man, sends Canadian Blood Services an anonymous email revealing how he has donated 18 times between 1990 and 2002. CBS tracks down his identity and sues him for negligent misrepresentation and damages. Mr. Freeman then countersues CBS for discrimination against him on the basis of his sexual orientation.

The case is resolved in 2010 by Justice Aitken. See details of her conclusion in the 2010 timestamp above.


Case of Freeman vs. CBS & Attorney-General of Canada ends Decision expected in summer

Justice Krever makes several recommendations for the blood system. One key recommendation is that a national blood service be created and that it be operated independent of the government in order to deter any political interference. This led to the creation of Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec. Other recommendations include that compensation be made available for all those harmed due to receiving contaminated blood and blood products, and that donors not be paid for volunteering.

These two blood operators are independent, non-profit organizations, which operate at arms length from the government to collect blood products; however, they are regulated by Health Canada. See more about the differing roles of Health Canada and Canadian Blood Services.


Blood Program: 1946 until 1997-1998

Krever Inquiry

The policy permanently banning blood donations from any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 is legacied into Health Canada’s regulations after it took over for the Canadian Red Cross as regulator of blood services.


Men who have sex men

Between 1980 and 1990, about 30,000 blood product recipients were infected with hepatitis C and approximately 2000 were infected with HIV. There were many factors that led to this tragedy, including governmental corruption and the prioritization of cheaper, less effective safety measures by the Canadian Red Cross, but the legacy of the tragedy would come to shape blood donation policies for gay, bisexual, and all men who have sex with men for decades to come.


Krever Inquiry

From the first edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, published in 1952, homosexuality was seen as a mental disorder in need of a cure. By the revised version of the third edition, published in 1987, it was finally dropped entirely, putting an end to the pathologization of homosexuality.


When Homosexuality Stopped Being a Mental Disorder

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test, which detects antibodies and antigens that are produced in the blood in response to HIV, is approved for use when testing donations. However, it was not allowed to be used as a diagnostic tool for those living with the virus as it had a high rate of giving false positives. The window period for this test (the time between the start of a new infection and tests being able to reliably detect it) is typically 3-12 weeks.



This Is How the HIV Test Was Invented

After it became clear that AIDS was transfusion-transmissible, the Canadian Red Cross advises people in high-risk groups, such as “promiscuous homosexual men”, Haitian immigrants, and drug users, not to donate blood. There is no questionnaire yet with a specific MSM criterion, but pamphlets are given to donors with information about risk groups in the hope of self-exclusion.

This aligns with the decision the CDC made in the United States in January banning men who had had sex with men since 1977 from donating blood.


Red Cross asks high risk groups not to donate blood

Reconsidering the lifetime deferral of blood donation by men who have sex with men

The meeting provided the foundation for Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an organization that was the first community-based AIDS service provider, to be formed in 1982.



A Timeline of HIV and AIDS