John O’Doherty of The Rainbow Project disappointed at court decision today on gay blood donors
DERRY based gay and lesbian support group, The Rainbow Project, says today’s gay blood ruling is disappointing.
The Court of Appeal in Belfast has ruled that Stormont’s Health Minister should decide whether a lifetime ban on gay men giving blood in the Northern of Ireland should be lifted.
It means that UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will not have any input into this decision in the future.
In England, Scotland and Wales men can to give blood if they have not had sex with another man for at least a year.
In the Northern, there is a lifetime ban on gay men donating blood.
The court dismissed an earlier ruling that former Health Minister Edwin Poots had acted irrationally or with apparent bias by keeping the ban in place.
The judges also held there was no basis for concluding that Mr Poots’ decision had been pre-determined by his Christian beliefs.
Rainbow Director John O’Doherty said the group had been campaigning on the issue for more than 10 years.
“It is disappointing that their lordships have failed to recognise that there is no reasonable, rational or medical reason to maintain this lifetime ban, particularly in light of the fact that all other regions of the UK have moved to a temporary deferral,” he said.
“We would once again urge Minister Hamilton to accept the advice given by the experts in SaBTO and adopt the one year deferral which exists in all other parts of the UK.
“This issue has been debated for over five years and tens of thousands of pounds of public funds have been spent on maintaining a lifetime ban.
“While the Minister may state that he has not yet made a decision, any right-thinking person would accept that five years is enough time to come to a decision.”