Story highlights French health minister says the ban will be relaxed, starting in spring 2016

Minister: "We are marking a new step in the fight against all forms of discrimination"

(CNN) France is lifting its ban on men who have sex with men from donating blood, the French health minister announced Wednesday.

"Giving blood is an act of generosity, of citizenship, which cannot be conditioned to sexual orientation. While respecting complete patient safety, today we are ending a taboo and discrimination," the minister, Marisol Touraine, said in a speech.

The change would be introduced gradually, she said, following extensive work by health authorities, patient associations and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender donors.

By spring 2016, men who have sex with men in France will be able to donate blood if they have not had sex with another man for 12 months.

Touraine said the 12-month deferral matched restrictions in place in other developed countries such as Australia, the Netherlands and Japan. Spain and Italy were among those countries with deferral periods of less than a year, she said, while Germany, Austria, Belgium and Denmark permanently excluded men who had sex with men from donating blood.