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Austria to end blood donor discrimination based on sexual orientation

In future blood donation in Austria will depend on individual risk behaviour, not sexual orientation.

Published: 20 May 2022 13:47 CEST
Austria to end blood donor discrimination based on sexual orientation
Austria will stop blanket discrimination on blood donation (Photo by Norbu GYACHUNG on Unsplash)

Austria’s Health Ministry announced it would change the blood donation rules to remove discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation.

“The discrimination of people based on their sexual orientation is finally a thing of the past”, Health Minister Johannes Rauch said in a statement.

The federal government has already prepared a draft regulation changing the rules. It expects it to come into force in the summer.

3 Mal 3-Regel

So far, homosexual and bisexual men, their partners and trans-persons in Austria were prevented from donating blood through a blank exclusion.

In the future, only people who have had more than three sexual partners in the past three months (the “3 Mal 3-Regel”) will not be allowed to donate blood.

READ ALSO: Austria’s top court legalizes same-sex marriage

“Obviously, the highest safety standards for blood donation preservation are met”, Rauch added, saying that the donated blood will be tested regardless of who the donor is.

This Friday, the Health Minister was on Ö1 Mittagsjournal and described the earlier rules as “old and discriminatory”.

Restrictions based on place of birth or travel

Austria still has some restrictions on blood donation based on citizenship or travel and residence history.

For example, persons who have stayed in the UK for a total of more than six months between 1980 and 1996 or who have undergone surgery or transfusion there are subject to permanent exclusion, according to the Rotes Kreuz.

There are also temporary bans from four weeks to six months for people returning from countries affected with diseases such as dengue fever, Chagas, and Zika virus.

READ ALSO: Everything foreigners need to know about the Austrian healthcare system

For those who were born or spent more than six months in a place with a high risk for Malaria, there is a permanent ban on blood donations.

This includes countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, parts of China, the Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, parts of South Africa, and several other countries.

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DISCRIMINATION

‘Some people lost everything’: Austria compensates victims of anti-gay laws

Austria has set aside millions of euros to compensate around 11,000 gay people who faced prosecution until two decades ago. But victims say the money "won't erase" the damage by the state to people's lives.

Published: 25 March 2024 09:32 CET
'Some people lost everything': Austria compensates victims of anti-gay laws

Austrian consultant Michael Woditschka well remembers the fateful day when he was summoned by police over his relationship with a teenage boy and subsequently convicted in court.

The 44-year-old is one of about 11,000 gay people who until two decades ago faced prosecution in Austria but are, since February, now eligible for financial compensation.

Even though Austria decriminalised homosexuality in 1971, certain discriminatory provisions remained in force until the early 2000s.

Woditschka says he will accept the money offered as compensation to him by the Austrian state, which has officially apologised for convicting him of homosexuality in 1999.

But the compensation “won’t erase what happened”, he told AFP, recalling the humiliation he endured as a 19-year-old.

“I was searching for my own identity and all of a sudden I found myself being treated like a sex offender at the police station, forced to describe my sex life in full detail,” said Woditschka.   

Woditschka was on a list of acquaintances his former partner, then 16, had to provide to authorities after being arrested for having sex in a car with another man.

After a humiliating court hearing, which forced him to disclose every detail of their relationship and was closely watched by the press, Woditschka was fined for “same-sex fornication with a minor”.

“The whole of Austria suddenly knew that I was gay – when, with whom and how,” he said.

Austrian consultant Michael Woditschka, 44, points to a document sentencing him to pay 350 Euros, in his apartment in Vienna, Austria on March 7, 2024.

Austrian consultant Michael Woditschka, 44, points to a document sentencing him to pay 350 Euros, in his apartment in Vienna, Austria on March 7, 2024. (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP)

‘Social death’

Under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi rule, Austria as part of the German Third Reich had persecuted homosexuals to death.

Despite the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the early 1970s, thousands of gays and bisexuals continued to be convicted under newly introduced sections of Austria’s penal code.

READ ALSO: Austria to compensate gay people convicted under discriminatory laws

A ban on male homosexual prostitution remained in place until 1989 although heterosexual prostitution was legal.

Until 2002, the age of consent for sexual contact between men was 18 – compared to 14 for heterosexuals.

“Even if you were handed a suspended sentence, you were usually remanded in custody and then everyone knew,” explained Andreas Brunner, 62, an expert on LGBTQ history and co-director of the QWIEN archive centre.

“For many it was a social death,” Brunner said.

Convictions were registered on people’s criminal records, in turn triggering a ban on certain professions.

The ruling conservative party did not amend the legislation, even though it was contrary to European law, Brunner said.

Instead, the party argued, with the support of the Catholic Church, that it was necessary to “protect young men from homosexuals”, he explained.

A decision by the European Court of Human Rights in 2002 obliged the Austrian government to end the years of discrimination.

Since then, Austria’s highest court has ruled on several cases of discrimination against sexual and gender minorities.

In 2019 it allowed same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

‘Reopening wounds’

When she outlined the compensation programme set up last year, Justice Minister Alma Zadic said it was of “immense importance that we… finally take responsibility for this part of our history”.

In 2017, the German parliament voted to quash the convictions of 50,000 gay men sentenced for homosexuality under a Nazi-era law which remained in force after the war, and to offer compensation.

Earlier this month, French lawmakers approved a bill to compensate LGBTQ people convicted under discriminatory laws between 1942 and 1982.

Austria has now set up a compensation fund of €33 million.

Since February, LGBTQ people who were investigated under the now-repealed laws are eligible to receive €500.

Those who were convicted will have their convictions quashed.

They will be compensated to the tune of €3,000 – or more if they suffered health, economic or professional woes as a result.

Woditschka said he welcomes the initiative but it was “insufficient”.

“Some people have lost everything,” he said.

He said he would have appreciated it more if the authorities had “written to us directly” instead of asking those affected “to provide evidence ourselves” first.

“Many people will say that it’s not worth reopening the wounds” for what is considered to be just a tiny amount of money, he said. 

By Blaise GAUQUELIN

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