Brazil's Supreme Court has struck down
as unconstitutional the nation's ban on gay and bisexual men donating
blood.
Men who have sex with men were
prohibited from donating blood for 12 months.
According to Reuters,
the case had been in court for almost four years. The high court's
11-judge panel voted to end the ban.
Such limits were put in place in many
countries at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
Supreme Court Minister Edson Fachin
argued that the ban was based on “prejudice and discrimination.”
“Instead of the state enabling these
people to promote good by donating blood, it unduly restricts
solidarity based on prejudice and discrimination,” Fachin wrote.
Last month, as the United States became
the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) eased its blood ban, reducing from 12 to 3
months the time gay and bisexual men must abstain from sex before
being allowed to donate blood. The previous policy was implemented in
2015.
(Related: FDA
eases ban on gay men donating blood.)
Brazil has seen a dramatic rise in
COVID-19 cases as President Jair Bolsonaro has refused to take
action.