The organisation wants to see Australia adopt the UK approach which allows all individuals to donate unless they have had anal sex with someone other than their current partner of at least three months.

Australia removed a lifetime ban on gay blood donation in 1996 and installed a rule that allowed blood donation if the person had not had sex in the previous 12 months.

This was reduced to three to four months during the COVID-19 pandemic, but arguments now exist to change this "exclusionary" measure.

In June this year the UK stopped a three month abstinence policy for gay individuals in favour or an individual assessment of every donor's sexual activity as it relates to numbers of sexual partners, and anal sex.

This means that all potential donors are asked whether they have had a new sexual partner or more than one sexual partner in the past three months, and if they answer yes, they will then be asked if they have had anal sex.

Just.Equal Australia spokesperson Rodney Croome said for years the LGBTIQ+ community have known that the ban on giving blood is outdated, stigmatising and counterproductive.

"Now we have clear international evidence and precedents that point Australia in the direction it must go."

A Red Cross Lifeblood Services spokesperson said it considered individual assessments as part of its recnet review.

"But they require a more even distribution of new HIV infections across a country's whole population. Because this is not the case in Australia, the individual risk assessment approach is not the safest approach at this time here," they said.

"We are exploring other pathways to broaden donor eligibility and hope to be able to share more about these in the near future."

A government spokesman said any changes to blood donor policies would first need to be considered by the TGA and Red Cross Lifeblood Services before the state would get involved.