LGBT groups launch action against Turkish Red Crescent for refusing gay blood donors

ISTANBUL

This photo shows a bus used by the Turkish Red Crescent for collecting blood donations. According to a long-standing policy, the institution considers gays unfit to donate blood. AA Photo

LGBT rights associations have launched an online petition campaign against the Turkish Red Crescent for its long-standing policy of refusing blood from gay donors.According to its routine procedure, the Red Crescent asks every donor information concerning their health and personal life. In the form, male donors are asked whether they have “had oral or anal sex with a man with or without using condoms, even just once.” Those who tick the box saying “yes” are considered unfit to donate blood.“This policy contradicts your institution’s principles of anti-discrimination and protection of human dignity,” read the text of the campaign, supported by 19 local LGBT associations, including KaosGL and Pembe Hayat.The associations stressed that all the blood samples were tested for infectious diseases such as HIV or Hepatitis before being transfused. “As heterosexuals also face the same risks of contagion during sexual intercourse, it is clear that the [condition] is not based on a medical concern,” the campaigners said.They also said that such a practice blatantly violated the European Convention of Human Rights, as well as the Turkish Constitution.