NHS England - blood donation if you are transgender

I believed that if you were taking drugs you would not be suitable as a donor... I was turned down for my run of the mill meds. Surely opposite sex hormones would be a problem? Who exactly will benefit from this dangerous nonsense?

The HIV risk is a whole other kettle of potatoes though. There is an argument that there has been a strong element of homophobia in the restrictions on men who have sex with men as they stand. I (a woman for avoidance of doubt!) was once deferred for disclosing that I had had protected sex with a bisexual man. Despite having a more recent negative HIV test myself and evidence of it. The regulations are such that a monogamous gay male couple are essentially currently barred from donating, although that is changing soon
www.blood.co.uk/who-can-give-blood/men-who-have-sex-with-men/

There is a risk to male blood recipients receiving blood from female blood donors that have ever been pregnant
www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j4795

So potentially a transman’s donation being categorised as male and given to a male recipient could be a risk.

The haemoglobin test has a higher cut off for male donors than female donors (if you fall below this you cannot donate as your Hb may be too low for it to be safe for you). The levels are set quite high though to have a large safety margin. A transman being tested on the male test would be more likely to fail, a transwoman on the female test more likely to pass (than if tested as their sex registered at birth), but I don’t think it would be likely to cause any real harm, as the levels have a big safety margin anyway.

I don’t get the deferral bit. You just have to say you have no gender and you can then donate if you have been having sex with men, but you can’t if you confirm that you are male bodied and have had sex with another man? Have I understood that correctly?

I don’t really understand the science but what risk factor is there for the person receiving the blood if they are wrong in their “assumption” that the person has had HRT.

Also what about the fact they are receiving blood from someone who may be on serious drugs with unknown side effects.

And as for the HIV risk being ignored...