Germany’s national Medical Association has recommended that gay men be allowed to donate blood, provided they have not engaged in higher risk behaviors for a period of time.

Currently men who have sex with men are banned for life from donating blood, but the German Medical Association has said it is open to the idea of banning people from donating based on whether they have engaged in risky behavior within a certain period rather than on the basis of the gender of their partners.

The German Medical Association said in June that it was open to the idea of moving to a model where people were excluded from donating based on the amount of time since they had engaged in a higher risk sexual activity rather than a blanket ban based on sexual orientation.

The German Lesbian and Gay Association says a life long ban on men who have sex with men is discriminatory and stigmatizing.

‘We have long been calling for disbanding with this "risk group" notion when it comes to giving blood,’ German Lesbian and Gay Association spokesman Martin Pfarr told Deutsche Welle.

‘We instead have to look concretely at the possible risky behavior of individuals … If you throw everyone into the same basket, then of course you can say that the risk of HIV among gay men is higher. But that doesn’t take into account people’s individual behavior.’

‘The message given to heterosexuals up to now has been “I’m not gay, so I can donate blood, regardless of what I do or how I behave.” That’s been counterproductive.’

Pfarr said there were heterosexuals who engaged in high risk behavior who were not banned while there were also gay men in long term monogamous relationships.