News Desk

The Advocate Post: In 2018, India’s Supreme Court legalized gay sex in a historic decision, yet the country still prohibits transgender people and gay and bisexual men from donating blood. The LGBT community views this ban as discriminatory and has challenged it in court.

Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a trans woman from Hyderabad, experienced this firsthand when her mother needed blood transfusions during her final days. Despite being her mother’s primary caregiver, Ms. Mogli was barred from donating blood and had to rely on social media to find donors, a process she found distressing. Many others face similar struggles, with some even losing loved ones due to the difficulty in securing blood donations. Sharif Ragnerka, a writer and activist, was motivated by such stories to petition India’s Supreme Court to overturn the ban. The ban, which dates back to the 1980s during the height of the HIV-AIDS epidemic, persists despite changing attitudes and the introduction of new policies, including a 2017 rule that maintained the restriction.

The petition, filed in July, argues that the current policies are biased and violate the fundamental rights of the LGBT community. The court has asked the federal government to respond to Mr. Ragnerka’s plea, which has been combined with two similar cases filed in 2021 and 2023.