OPINION | Iceland has officially, and finally, lifted restrictions that barred individuals from donating blood based on their gender or sexual orientation, thanks to a new regulation from the Minister of Health. Guðlaugur Kristmundsson looks back at the fight to end a discriminatory policy and what it feels like to finally be allowed to give blood himself.
My heart skipped a beat yesterday when I read the news that new regulations will come into effect today allowing everyone to donate blood. The news moved me deeply, and my thoughts immediately went back to 2003, when I was chair of FSS, the Association of Queer Students*. Together with my fellow members, I had decided to welcome the blood donation bus at the University of Iceland wearing banners that read: “Gay Blood Is Good Blood”.
We walked around the university campus handing out leaflets and asking our fellow students to donate blood on our behalf, because we weren’t allowed to. Naturally, it attracted attention, and so did the positive and constructive way in which we welcomed the blood donation bus and supported the important work it was there to do.
I remember how we had to encourage one another before walking around campus and making ourselves visible in this way. At the time, many people still found it difficult or uncomfortable to be around gay men, and for us to take up space so openly as gay men in a public setting was almost unheard of.
My heart skipped a beat yesterday when I read the news that new regulations will come into effect today allowing everyone to donate blood. The news moved me deeply, and my thoughts immediately went back to 2003, when I was chair of FSS, the Association of Queer Students
The staff on the blood donation bus thanked us warmly for our support. At the time, the mobile blood donation service itself was still a relatively new initiative. That day, Sveinn Guðmundsson, the medical director of the Blood Bank, told us that they had broken a record: never before had so many new blood donors signed up in a single day.
I remember how cold I was by the end of the day. We had stayed out there throughout what had been a wonderful day, even as it ended in rain and drizzle. But my heart was warm, despite the fact that I still wasn’t allowed to donate blood myself.
At the time, many people still found it difficult or uncomfortable to be around gay men, and for us to take up space so openly as gay men in a public setting was almost unheard of.
It also makes me smile to be reminded that I went to my friend Guðjón Ármannsson, from Þykkvibær and a fellow member of Vaka*, and asked him to donate blood on my behalf, as you can see here in a photo from a news paper cutting.
It seems only fitting that I go and donate blood myself this week, finally. And I will be thanking Minister of Health Alma D. Möller for taking this important step. Thank you, dear Alma. Drop by drop, the system has finally been changed after 25 years.
* Today, the student association has a new name: Q – The Association of Queer Students.
* Vaka is a student political organization, traditionally associated with the centre-right
* Þykkvibær is a small rural village/community in South Iceland, in the Rangárþing ytra municipality. It’s particularly known for potato farming and is one of Iceland’s oldest farming communities.