The European Court of Justice has ruled that a ban on the transfer of blood from men who have engaged in sexual relations with other men “may be justified” in certain circumstances.
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European justice prohibit homosexuals to donate blood
The European Court of Justice issued a controversial ruling to exclude homosexuals from donating blood.
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The court ruled that a ban may be justified if it can be established that donors are at a high risk of acquiring severe infectious diseases.
The ruling means member states can retain bans currently in place.
The case arose on April 29, 2009, when a doctor in the French city of Metz refused blood donation Léger Geoffrey because this had sex with another man.
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The doctor was based on a French ministerial order allowing permanently exclude homosexuals from donating.
Léger appealed the decision to consider that this rule infringes European law and the administrative court of Strasbourg, called upon to adjudicate in the case, raised the matter before the Court of Justice of the EU to take a position.
In its ruling, based on a French case, the court stated that blood donations can be banned for men who have had sexual relations with other men “where it is established, on the basis of current medical, scientific and epidemiological knowledge and data, that such sexual behaviour puts those persons at a high risk of acquiring severe infectious diseases”.
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