Pride Cymru wants you to talk to the Welsh Government about organ donation
The Welsh Government is encouraging those attending this weekend’s Pride Cymru to talk about organ donation.
On 1 December 2015, the law will change in Wales, and a new soft opt-out organ donation system will be introduced.
Wales will become the first UK country to adopt a process where individuals will be presumed to have consented for their organs to be donated unless they opt-out.
It’s hoped the change can increase the number of donors for transplant. The Welsh Assembly passed the measure in July last year.
Unlike for donating blood, there are no specific restrictions against men who have sex with men (MSM) registering as organ donors.
Suitability to harvest is assessed on an individual basis at the point of death, in contrast to blood donations, where automatic exclusion applies for any man who has had oral or anal sex with another man within 12 months for England, Wales and Scotland.
A lifetime ban remains in place in Northern Ireland.
“We’re delighted to be hosting Organ Donation Wales at this year’s Pride Cymru event”, said Lu Thomas, chair of Pride Cymru. “It is important the LGBT community in Wales is fully informed about the changes to the law. We also want to use this as an opportunity to dispel the myths about organ donation amongst the LGBT community.”
“Whatever your views on the new organ donation legislation, it’s vital everyone is aware of the impending changes to the law and understand their choices. However, for us at Pride Cymru it’s more than just telling people about the new law as we also want everyone to know that whether lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual or transgender anybody can potentially be an organ donor.”
For more information visit www.organdonationwales.org
