At Regina’s local blood clinic Friday afternoon, dozens of donors arrived with open arms.
“In the last 10 years, this is my first time,” Morah Hurn said.
Like other gay men in Canada, Mike cannot donate unless he has not had sex with other men for five years.
However, the government recently announced it will follow its international peers and lower the wait period from five years to one, come August.
READ MORE: Blood donation ban for gay men dropped to 1 year from 5
“It’s hard being told that you can’t help to save lives,” Queen City Pride co-chair Jesse Ireland said.
For Ireland, it’s an uncomfortable feeling, especially in the wake of the Orlando gay night club shooting.
READ MORE: Gay men limited as blood donors for Orlando club victims
It’s partly why Queen City Pride decided to host their first Ally Blood Donor Clinic.
“We at least have people willing to donate on behalf of other people and have some connection that way for the time-being,” Ireland said.
That type of connection is one that 36 year-old Justin Waldrop has been longing for since highschool.
Waldrop had two people sign up to donate on his behalf, but says he feels gay men are sidelined because of systemic archaic views.
“I believe it’s an assumption,” Waldrop said.
“It’s an assumption that all gay men are having wild and crazy unprotected sex with everyone else and it’s just not true.”
The Canadian Blood Services Agency (CBSA) says blood supply safety is their top priority and they must take into account the risk factors.
“In Canada, the highest risk factor for HIV is still men having sex with men,” CBSA Saskatchewan medical officer Dr. Ted Alport explained., while also highlighting the governments move to reduce the abstinence period.
“We’re now aligned with all the major countries in the western world, the U.S., Great Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand,” Alport said.
However, supporters of Regina’s LGBTQ community say that it’s still just a drop of progress for a community with so much to give.
“There’s so many people out there that need blood. and this is a whole community that has tons of blood and we’re not getting ’em,” Hurn said.
In Canada, there has not been an incidence of HIV transmission from blood transfusion in 25 years, according to Health Canada.
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