Mexico lifts blood ban on gay and bisexual men

Mexico has become the first country in North America to lift the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, according to the Medical Daily. Instead, the new regulations will ask prospective donors to recount their sexual history rather than their sexual orientation. Men who have sex with men (MSM) will be eligible to donate blood, along with other individuals, as long as they are practicing and have practiced safe sex in the past, do not test positive for HIV or hepatitis, do not work as prostitutes and do not inject drugs. The move went into effect on Christmas day, though it was approved this summer in August.

Mexico’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) welcomed the new rules and

in a statement released on its Web site said, “In making these discriminatory distinctions, the [previous] norm explicitly violated the prohibition against discrimination present in the Constitution and the Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination, as well as Article 24 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article 26 of the International Civil and Political Rights Treaty, among other international instruments of law, which establish that every person is equal before the law regardless of any condition.”