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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - The South African National Blood Service will allow gay men, who have been celibate for six months, to donate blood from November 1.
The SANBS said this was one of the changes in a more streamlined questionnaire for blood donors, the SABC reported on Sunday.
"We will be able to start with these new forms and questionnaires on November 1," said SANBS spokesperson Dr Sam Gulube.
In January the SANBS announced its plan to reword the questionnaire that potential blood donors are required to fill out to make the forms more "gender sensitive", South African-oriented and less objectionable to the gay community.
Gulube said the delay was because of logistical reasons.
It was the phrase - "male-to-male sex" - anal and oral performed with or without protection, which caused a furore on the existing form.
If the form was reworded to say "anal and oral sex", it would apply to heterosexuals too, SANBS spokesperson Ianthe Exall said.
Glenn de Swardt of the Triangle Project, the oldest gay organisation in Africa, said Aids was a heterosexually driven pandemic on the continent. But the medical standards employed by the blood centres to exclude gay men were based on statistics from countries where Aids was a homosexually driven pandemic.
"Anal sex is high-risk activity. Not all homosexual men engage in anal sex and lots of heterosexuals do," he said.
from Independent Online
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma has apologised unreservedly for the pain and anger his recent remarks about gays and lesbians may have caused.
In a statement on Thursday, Zuma said he had noted his remarks at the "Shaka Day commemoration" in kwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday had been interpreted in various ways, and might have hurt and angered the gay and lesbian community.
The remarks were made in the context of the traditional way of raising children, he said.
He had commented in particular about the manner in which communities tended to neglect boys and over-emphasise the traditional upbringing of girls, as evidenced in ceremonies such as the reed dance.
"I said the communal upbringing of children in the past was able to assist parents to notice children with a different social orientation.
"I however did not intend to have this interpreted as a condemnation of gays and lesbians."
The Constitution clearly stated that nobody should be discriminated against on any grounds, including sexual orientation, and he upheld and abided by the Constitution, Zuma said.
"Our lesbian and gay compatriots are protected by the Constitution and I respect their rights, in my capacity as an individual citizen and as a member and one of the leaders of the ANC.
"I also respect, acknowledge and applaud the sterling contribution of many gay and lesbian compatriots in the struggle that brought about our freedom, and the role they continue to play in the building of a successful non-racial, non-discriminatory South Africa.
"I apologise unreservedly for the pain and anger that my remarks may have caused," Zuma said.
from Independent Online
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - The South African National Blood Service will allow gay men, who have been celibate for six months, to donate blood from November 1.
