LGBT Indians demand finish to 'discriminatory' blood donation ban

In 2018, India’s prime courtroom legalised homosexual intercourse in a landmark ruling – however the nation nonetheless would not permit transgender folks and homosexual and bisexual males to donate blood.

Individuals from the LGBT neighborhood say the decades-old ban is “discriminatory” and have gone to courtroom to problem it.

When Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli’s mom was on her deathbed battling superior Parkinson’s, she wanted common blood transfusions.

However Ms Mogli, a trans lady based mostly within the southern metropolis of Hyderabad, couldn’t donate blood regardless of being her mom’s sole caregiver.

“I needed to maintain posting [requests for blood donors] on WhatsApp and Fb teams,” she stated, describing the method as “traumatising”.

Ms Mogli was lucky to search out donors for her mum however many others aren’t.

Beoncy Laisharam – a physician within the north-eastern state of Manipur – recounted the expertise of one in all her sufferers, whose transgender daughter was unable to offer blood for his remedy.

“The daddy wanted two to a few models of blood each day. They had been unable to search out blood from different sources,” she stated.

“He died two days after being introduced in.”

It was such tales that pushed Sharif Ragnerka, a 55-year-old author and activist, to file a petition in India’s Supreme Court docket towards the ban on blood donation by LGBT folks.

Indian legal guidelines prohibit LGBT folks from donating blood on the bottom that they’re high-risk teams for HIV-Aids – it’s obligatory for donors to be free from illnesses which might be transmissible by blood transfusion.

The coverage dates again to the Eighties, when a number of nations imposed comparable bans to reign in an HIV-Aids epidemic raging the world over, which killed 1000’s.

Regardless of change in attitudes, subsequent insurance policies have saved the ban in place, together with the newest rule drafted in 2017.

Filed in July, the plea argues that the present blood donation insurance policies are “extremely prejudicial and presumptive” and violate the elemental rights of “equality, dignity and life” of the LGBT neighborhood.

The courtroom has requested the federal authorities to answer Mr Ragnerka’s plea and tagged it with two comparable courtroom circumstances filed in 2021 and 2023 which might be pending earlier than it.

In an earlier listening to, the federal government had defended the ban by citing a 2021 well being ministry report which said that transgender folks, homosexual and bisexual males had been “six to 13 instances” extra on the danger of contracting HIV than the overall inhabitants.

“The federal government’s coverage is for mitigating danger with no ethical judgement [attached to] it,” stated Dr Pleasure Mammen, an knowledgeable in blood transfusion.

However critics say the coverage is discriminatory, rooted in stigma and makes them really feel “excluded and insignificant”.

“Different genders even have HIV optimistic folks however their total neighborhood isn’t banned [from donating blood],” Dr Beoncy stated, including that the ban reinforces present stereotypes.

India is is dwelling to an estimated tens of hundreds of thousands of LGBT folks. In 2012, the Indian authorities put their inhabitants at 2.5 million, however international estimates recommend the true determine may very well be over 135 million.

Lots of them face discrimination and are pressured to depart their households.

Campaigners say the ban hampers their entry to essential medical care because it bars them from taking blood from their companions or “chosen households”.

“If there is a blanket ban on blood donation by LGBT folks, how do you anticipate neighborhood members to obtain assist in emergency conditions?” requested Sahil Choudhary, an LGBT activist.

In lots of cases, donors may also really feel compelled to lie about their sexuality whereas filling a compulsory kind for making blood donations, to avoid wasting the lifetime of a cherished one.

Activists argue that aside from it being discriminatory, the ban can also be irrational due to the excessive demand for blood transfusions within the nation.

A study revealed by the Public Library of Science in 2022 estimated that India confronted an annual deficit of round a million models of blood.

Thangjam Santa Singh, a transgender rights activist who petitioned the courtroom towards the ban final 12 months, stated the present Indian legal guidelines are outdated as a number of nations have moved away from restrictions on LGBT blood donors in recent times.

Final 12 months, the US lifted all restrictions on homosexual and bisexual males donating blood. Now as an alternative of sexual orientation, donors are screened on the premise of whether or not they have engaged in “high-risk sexual behaviour”.

All potential donors need to reply a questionnaire about their latest sexual histories. Those that have had a brand new sexual companion, a number of sexual companions and have engaged in anal intercourse within the final three months are requested to attend for 3 months earlier than donating blood.

The rationale is that new testing expertise permits sooner detection of HIV circumstances, so potential donors can safely give blood based mostly on a person danger evaluation.

The UK set in place comparable pointers in 2021. Different nations which have lifted bans or eased restrictions, embody Brazil, the Republic of Eire, Canada, France and Greece.

Petitioners argue that India also needs to have an individual-centric system for blood donation that’s based mostly on “precise danger” and never “perceived danger”.

Ms Singh stated that the Indian authorities can take into account having a deferral interval based mostly on the donor’s latest sexual historical past, as an alternative of denying all the LGBT neighborhood the chance to donate altogether.

“This makes me really feel like I’m not human,” she stated.

The Indian authorities has opposed this, saying that the nation’s healthcare system isn’t prepared for the change.

In its response to the sooner petitions filed earlier than the Supreme Court docket, the federal authorities had stated that superior blood testing applied sciences, equivalent to nucleic-acid testing which is extensively utilized in different nations, had been solely accessible at a “small fraction” of blood banks in India.

“In India, the methods usually are not rigorous sufficient,” stated Dr Mammen.

This is applicable not simply “to testing” but additionally in “making certain an surroundings the place there may be privateness and confidentiality so that individuals really feel snug in answering questions on their sexual historical past”, he added.

However members of the neighborhood usually are not satisfied – and say they’d proceed their struggle towards the “prejudiced ban”.

“I maintain pondering how I wouldn’t be capable of donate blood to my household in case of pressing want,” Mr Ragnerka stated.

“I don’t need to spend the remainder of my life looking for methods round these obstacles.”