Challenge fails against blood donation policy that effectively bans gay men
Posted September 9, 2010 10:30 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – An Ontario court has found that Canadian Blood Services is legally allowed to ban men who have sex with other men from giving blood.
In dismissing a constitutional challenge, the court ruled that Canadian Blood Services is not a government entity, so the charter does not apply to its policies.
Canadian Blood Services had sued Kyle Freeman, a gay man who lied when
giving blood, and the court has now found him liable for $10,000 for negligent misrepresentation.
Freeman, who had syphilis when he donated blood, had argued he lied because the policy wasn’t scientifically justified and violated his rights.
He launched a counterclaim under the charter, but in an Ontario Superior Court ruling released Thursday the judge dismissed it.
The judge did note that she appreciates the sense of injustice gay and bisexual men feel about the policy, but that the impact is not “in the same league” as a blood recipient being asked to accept lower safety standards.
