Gay men are currently prohibited from donating blood due to the risk of transmission of HIV, which is disproportionately present amongst such people.
and violates the right to privacy' as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights, Spinosi said. Gay men will be allowed to donate blood as of next year, following investment by the health authorities in new equipment that reduces the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections. The abstinence rule 'is based solely on a person's sex and sexual orientation. HIV screening is often part of the required testing of blood donation samples. The rule was lifted in 2016, but officials said gay men would first have to pledge during a preliminary interview at a blood bank that they had not had sex for twelve months. Gay men were prohibited from giving blood in 1983 over fears about the spread of HIV, the virus which causes AIDS. 'It's the first time that the ECHR will make a decision on whether French legislation is discriminatory or not,' Drelon's lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, told the AFP news agency. His complaint, lodged at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, comes after France's Council of State upheld in late 2017 the rule barring gay men from donating unless they have not had sex for a year. Laurent Drelon, 48, has been prohibited from giving blood several times since he first tried to do so in 2004.
