Overview

• The Australian Red Cross Lifeblood Service ended all sexual-activity based deferrals for plasma from LGBTQIA+ donors, sex workers and PrEP users effective July 14, 2025.
• The change immediately makes roughly 625,000 more Australians eligible to donate plasma, with Lifeblood forecasting at least 24,000 new donors and 95,000 extra plasma donations within a year.
• The Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved Lifeblood’s proposal to replace gender-based blood and platelet eligibility rules with uniform, risk-based screening questions for all donors.
• Successive HIV-testing improvements cut prior deferrals from indefinite to 12 months, then to three months in 2021, before this full removal.
• LGBTQIA+ advocates and public officials, including ACT treasurer Chris Steel, hail the reform as a key step toward ending stigma and promoting equality in blood donation.