Travis McEwan for CBC News reports:
A transgender man is calling for Canadian Blood Services to change its screening policy when dealing with trans donors.
Jack Biamonte donated blood five times over the past year. Two weeks ago he had an embarrassing experience after he revealed his recent hysterectomy surgery to staff.
Staff, unaware Biamonte was a female-to-male transgender individual, asked him if he had genital-reconstruction surgery. When he said no, staff told him he would have to answer questions based on his sex assigned at birth.
Donors who have not had genital-reconstruction surgery are screened by their gender assigned at birth.
That means trans men born female are screened as women and questioned about pregnancies, as donors who have had a pregnancy are more likely to have antibodies in their blood that may cause a rare but potentially fatal complication in a recipient.
“I feel like if it’s better explained people will be more accepting of it,” Biamonte said.
But he disagrees that the policy is based on science.
[ed: sounds like they will need to ask all donors about
pregnancies now regardless of how they present.]
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/trans-canadian-blood-services-1.4851296
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