France will end its lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men.

“Giving blood is an act of generosity, of citizenship, which cannot be conditioned to sexual orientation,” said Marisol Touraine, the French health minister. “While respecting complete patient safety, today we are ending a taboo and discrimination.”

France introduced its ban in 1983 amid the AIDS crisis.

Under the new policy, gay men in a monogamous relationship or who have not had sex with another man in the preceding four months will be allowed to donate plasma.

“The plasma supply chain will allow the freezing of blood donations, so that donors can be tested again, once the window has passed for HIV antibodies to appear,” Touraine explained.

French rights group SOS Homophobie said that the new policy did not go far enough, noting that there is no prerequisite for abstention for heterosexuals.

“This does not end the stigmatization of gay and bisexual men,” the group said in a statement.

In the United States, the FDA prohibits men who have sex with men from donating blood unless they have been celibate for one year.