The Constitutional Court responded that entities that do not allow people from the LGTBI community to donate blood could incur discrimination. The guardianship was made in Cali.
Colombia News.
A guardianship filed by a same-sex couple led the Constitutional Court to rule on the rules for donating blood by members of the LGBTI community. The couple from Cali denounced feeling discriminated against.
This happened, according to the official Court document, in January 2021 at the Fundación Valle de Lili University Hospital in the city of Cali.
That institution located in the south of Cali, responded to the couple that it did not accept the donation, according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health.
The couple would have their tests for sexually transmitted diseases up to date from a month before, but they could not donate blood, because “they are a population at high risk of HIV.”
Today, 50% of HIV-positive people are heterosexual, while 45% represent people from the LGTBI community.
Therefore, “it is a stigma that many entities and ordinary people have not been able to overcome even before,” they lamented.
The Court responded: “Order the INS and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to modify the rules and procedures that discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity in donating blood.”
The sentence was signed by MP Gloria Stella Ortiz Delgado, Judgment T-171-22.
What did the court decide?
Judge Gloria Ortiz, “eliminate any reference made to sexual orientation and gender identity as groups or risk factors in blood donation.”
He also commented that the LGTBI population continues to be seen as a population with a high risk of contagion, without taking into account that the contagion is due to unprotected sexual practices regardless of sexual orientation.
However, the exclusion of the LGTBI community to donate blood generates losses in the units owned by the blood bank, which have decreased by 10% since March 2020.
#LaCorteInforma l They order the INS and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to modify the rules and procedures that discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity when donating blood
MP Gloria Stella Ortiz Delgado
Judgment T-171-22. pic.twitter.com/VAkwDp1rjp– Constitutional Court (@CConstitucional) May 26, 2022
Finally, the high court ordered an estimated time of 6 months to change the guidelines and standards of the hospitals.
On the other hand, it is also requested to promote the decision through campaigns that prohibit discrimination towards the community according to blood donation.
