In New Zealand, if you are a homosexual or bisexual male, you can donate lifesaving blood. However, you must have abstained from sex for an ENTIRE year. Yep, you read correctly. 12 whole months without sex. 52 weeks. 365 days...  A straight man can have as much unprotected sex with a woman as he wants and he is still able to donate blood. But a gay or bi dude who has had safe sex for an entire year – even if they are married – would still be banned. Sounds like discrimination to me.  The NZBS already screens and tests every batch of blood that has been donated to prevent HIV infection. They will happily tell you how effective their testing regime is. According to them, it is extremely unlikely that you will ever contract HIV from blood donated through their services. As long as it is straight blood. Despite the fact that HIV behaves exactly the same way, and is detectable in the exactly the same way REGARDLESS of sexual orientation, the NZBS will still refuse blood from a gay or bisexual man. If you ask them "But then, surely if your testing regime is so good, it would be OK if gay or bisexual men donated blood?" all of a sudden, they don't seem quite so confident in their testing system after all.  The NZBS should determine blood donations based on exposure to risk - not on your sexual orientation. That way everybody can contribute and save lives.