Gay man celebrates anniversary of blood donation rule change by rolling up his sleeve

A gay Winnipeg man donated blood on Saturday for the first time in eight years.

Men who have sex with men used to be barred from donating blood. But Canadian Blood Services has relaxed the rules in recent years, allowing men who abstain from having sex with other men to donate after a certain period. Last summer, the ineligibility period for men who have sex with men was reduced to one year from five.

Nearly 365 days after that rule change, William Reimer is once again eligible to donate blood.

• Gay men abstinent for a year cleared by Health Canada to donate blood

"I have reached that milestone, I guess," Reimerquipped about reaching the one-year abstinence requirement."And I am here to celebrate that change, celebrate the fact that I can finally donate again."

He said 15 of his friends are also donating blood. A second group will go to Canadian Blood Services on Tuesday, which is the official one year anniversary of the rule change.

Reimer said while growing up his family always donated andhe donated a few times before he came out as gay.

"It didn't really hit me until a couple years ago when I had to take [my Opa] for chemo," he recalled. 'We had, it turns out, the same blood type, and that blood type was really low and not in high stock here at Blood Services."

Reimer said it upset him that he wasn't able to donate and help his grandfather.

"I know there has been a lot of stigma around homosexuality and gay men, in particular with the whole AIDSepidemic back in the '80s," he said. "HIV is more prominent among younger women than it is in the gay community, because it is not a gay disease, it is an everyone disease."

• Winnipeg lawyer calls new blood donation policy 'ludicrous'

Canadian Blood Services would not comment on the policy or on Reimer's donation celebration.

On its website, Canadian Blood Services saidit's working with LGBT groups to create a long-term solution. It saidone possibilityis a behaviour-based screening criteria.

When the eligibility period was changed last year, critics called the one-year abstinence periodhomophobic andunreasonable.

Reimer said he plans on donating again after the 56-day wait period that is, if he remains abstinent.