Under current UK blood donation rules, any man who has ever had oral or anal sex with another man (with or without a condom) is permanently excluded from donating blood. In 2008, Rob McDowall submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee, calling for a review of these rules, to allow healthy gay and bisexual men to donate blood.

The Public Petitions Committee discussed the petition on 15th April 2008, and decided to invite submissions from a number of organisations, including the Equality Network. The Committee plans to consider the petition again at its meeting on 4th November 2008.

The Equality Network's submission to the Committee is attached below.

Submission to the Public Petitions Committee on blood donation (37k)