Gay blood donation comments slammed in Assembly

A claim that homosexual blood donors could pass on the HIV virus has provoked outright condemnation in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In a debate tabled in the assembly on Human Rights, Democratic Unionist Edwin Poots for Laganvalley attacked the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for calling for a lift of the ban on homosexuals giving blood.

Mr Poots said: "The commission believes it is a right for homosexuals to be able to give blood. I say that it is a human right for people receiving blood to know that they are getting clean blood - blood that has not been contaminated with the HIV virus."

Retaliating to Mr Poots comments Monica McWilliams, south Belfast member for the Women's Coalition, said Mr Poots' remarks about the rights of gays and lesbians were "disgraceful".

She said: "This chamber should be ashamed that any member would ever make such a comment."

Sinn Fein's Dara O'Hagan said Mr Poots' views brought shame on the Assembly.

"This was an attack on people who suffer from AIDS, who suffer from haemophilia, and hepatitis and unfortunately it's indicative of the backward thinking amongst so many sections of people in this society," she said.

Ulster Unionist Duncan Shipley-Dalton said that while he supported the motion, he wished to distance himself from the DUP member's remarks.

A vote on the motion proposed by South Belfast Ulster Unionist member Esmond Birnie was delayed until Monday after the SDLP's Alex Attwood tabled a petition of concern.

The Blood Transfusion Service's policy currently prohibits men who have had sex with another man from being a blood donor.

In its report on report on gay and lesbian rights issued in August, the commission said that while the exclusions do not name gay men specifically, the ban disproportionately affected gay men. (AMcE)