Canadian Blood Services apology met with mixed feelings in Windsor, Ont., 2SLGBTQ+ community

CBC
·4 min read
Hedy Halpern, a lifelong blood donor and former Canadian Blood Services volunteer, said she hopes that other members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community will feel OK about donating blood because
Hedy Halpern, a lifelong blood donor and former Canadian Blood Services volunteer, said she hopes that other members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community will feel OK about donating blood because

Some members of Windsor's 2SLGBTQ+ community say they're glad Canadian Blood Services has apologized to the community for decades of discrimination against gay and bisexual men and some trans people.

But they say a former policy banning blood donations by men who have sex with men should never have existed in the first place.

Shaun Gereghty said he's angry that for years he faced a lifetime ban on donating blood, despite being in a monogamous marriage, while heterosexuals who engaged in riskier behaviours did not.

"And now I have no desire to, because if it wasn't good enough before, it's not good enough now," he said.

"And I've got perfectly clean O-negative blood."

Shaun Gereghty said he is glad that Canadian Blood Services has apologized to the 2SLGBTQ+ community for its decades of discrimination against men who have sex with men. But he does not intend to give blood ever again.
Shaun Gereghty said he is glad that Canadian Blood Services has apologized to the 2SLGBTQ+ community for its decades of discrimination against men who have sex with men. But he does not intend to give blood ever again.

Shaun Gereghty said he is glad that Canadian Blood Services has apologized to the 2SLGBTQ+ community for its decades of discrimination against men who have sex with men. But he does not intend to give blood ever again. (submitted by Sean Gereghty)

Gereghty said he believes the apology is sincere, but there is nothing Canadian Blood Services could do to win him back.

The agency issued the apology in Ottawa on Friday, less than two years after abandoning the last vestiges of its discriminatory policy.

Canada introduced a lifetime blood donation ban for men who have sex with men in 1992.

In 2013, Canadian Blood Services began allowing donations from men who said they had abstained from sex with other men for five years. It reduced the deferral period to one year In 2016 and to three months in 2019.

The agency insisted that the policies were essential to protect the safety of the blood supply.

Behavior-based screening introduced in 2022

But in 2022, it adopted a new behaviour-based screening-policy that disqualifies would-be donors based on their exposure to risky behaviours rather than on the genders of their sexual partners.

"It's nice that they apologize,  said Wendi Nicholson, the president of Windsor Essex Pride Fest.

"But honestly, there shouldn't have been a ban ... to [have] apologized for,"

One member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community who volunteered for Canadian Blood Services said she's grateful for the apology but she understands the position of people like Gereghty.

Windsor-Essex Pride Fest president Wendi Nicholson stands in front of The PlayHouse on Wyandotte Street east, which once was a gay bar more than a decade ago.
Windsor-Essex Pride Fest president Wendi Nicholson stands in front of The PlayHouse on Wyandotte Street east, which once was a gay bar more than a decade ago.

Windsor-Essex Pride Fest president Wendi Nicholson said she's glad that Canadian Blood Services has apologized to the 2SLGBTQ+ community but added, there never should've been an anti-gay blood ban to apologize for in the first place. (Jason Viau/CBC)

"I hope that people will get to a point where they're able to say 'OK,' you know? Because the need is great," said Hedy Halpern.

But she added, "Some wounds are deep, and some people will never get over it. And I respect that."

Halpern, a retired nurse, began donating blood in 1971, inspired by her father, and recently made her 202nd donation.

She volunteered in the 1970s with the Canadian Red Cross and helped recruit blood donors for Canadian Blood Services prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2SLGBTQ+ community wants meaningful engagement

In the 1990s, she and other women served as "blood sisters" for gay men, donating blood on behalf of men who could not.

Halpern is among several members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community who told CBC they'd like to see Canadian Blood Services follow up its apology with action aimed at repairing its relationship with the community.

"I wouldn't mind seeing ads that show, perhaps gay men, coming in and saying … something like, 'I'm here to donate, and I'm grateful that Canadian Blood Services have changed their attitude,'" she said.

Prominent gay rights lawyer Douglas Elliott, who completed his first year of law school in Windsor and who went on to represent the Canadian AIDS Society at the Krever Inquiry into Canada's tainted blood scandal, asked if the agency would be present at community events or if it would engage with the community.

Douglas Elliott grew up in the small northeastern, Ont., community of Elliot Lake.
Douglas Elliott grew up in the small northeastern, Ont., community of Elliot Lake.

Lawyer Douglas Elliott said he wonders if Canadian Blood Services will follow up its apology to the 2SLGBTQ+ community with meaningful engagement. (Submitted by Douglas Elliott)

"I'm glad that they've apologized," he said.

"Now let's put some action behind it…. Otherwise, it's just one more public relations gesture."

Gereghty said Canadian Blood Services needs to reach out to the communities it turned away and not simply spend money to try and build relationships.

"They should be there at Pride events," he said.

"They should be helping out the queer communities and any other communities that they may have hurt."