Committee
Please sign the petition to tell Canadian Blood Services to end the discrimination against gay men
March 21, 2018
To All MoveUP members
As chair of the MoveUP Human Rights Committee, I am proud to initiate a petition to the Government of Canada to ask Canadian Blood Services to end the discrimination against gay men.
The ban on accepting blood from gay men not only affects these men, but also withholds life-giving blood from those who need it the most. If you are in agreement, please sign the petition and share it with your friends and family.
The petition states whereas:
· Canadian Blood Services (CBS) will not accept blood donations from men who have sex with men, if they had a male sexual partner within a year;
· The ban focuses on gender and sexual identity over sexual behaviours more likely to indicate risk of sexual disease, despite the fact CBS screens all blood from all donors for a variety of factors, including HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases;
· The ban creates and reinforces negative stigma surrounding men who have sex with men, and prevents potentially healthy donors from donating blood; and
· CBS misgenders trans women as men for the purposes of blood donation and focuses on their gender affirmation surgery status, despite there not being a single documented case of a trans person donating infected blood.
We, concerned citizens, call upon the government of Canada to act now to repeal the blood ban against men who have sex with men.
Please sign the petition today and share it with your friends and family.
In solidarity,
Annette Toth Vice-President, MoveUP Chair, Human Rights Committee