A change for life
Many people who couldn’t donate blood under our previous rules about sexual activity can now give it. And most can donate plasma, too. As long as you meet all our other usual donation criteria, of course.
Let’s get into it.
First of all, most people can donate plasma straight away. No wait period, just changing lives.
As for blood and platelets? You can donate, but you might need to wait a bit if you’ve had sex (excluding oral sex) in the past 6 months with someone new or with more than one person, and you’ve had anal sex in the past 3 months.
For most people in a long-term monogamous relationship, there's no wait.
So, that means we’ve changed the questions we ask donors so they’re the same for everyone. Regardless of your gender or sexuality. You can see our new questionnaire here.
It’s simple. Fair. Inclusive.
Behind the change
The history
To help stop the spread of HIV in the 1980s, blood services around the world introduced rules that meant most gay and bisexual men could no longer donate blood. That policy changed to a 12 month wait in 2000, then 3 months in 2021. In 2025, it was removed completely for plasma donation. And now, the rules have changed again.
Why now?
This has been going on in the background at Lifeblood for a while. There was research. Risk-modelling. Community feedback. We took all of that to the Therapeutic Goods Administration and governments across the country. And they approved it. These changes are safe and important.
A more inclusive experience
Blood safety is and always will be our top priority, but we can’t ignore the fact that the rules around blood donation that affect LGBTQIA+ people have caused a lot of pain. While they were never intended to be discriminatory, we know they’ve contributed to stigma faced by many people in the community, and we can’t undo the past. We hope these changes help create a more inclusive and welcoming donation experience for the LGBTQIA+ community.
New questions?
Yep. If you’ve never donated before, well, you won’t notice anything different. If you have, you might notice we no longer ask men if they’ve had sex with men. Instead, we ask everyone the same questions about recent partners. And these questions don’t stop you from donating. They just help decide whether you can give blood or plasma.
Safety and patients
Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do. Australia even has one of the safest blood supplies in the world. And that isn’t changing. The only thing that is? More people can save lives.
Your donation makes a difference
