In an announcement last weekend, Justine Greening, the women and equalities minister, revealed that the 12-month period would soon be reduced to three. By 2011 the abstinence period was reduced to 12 months – but for sexually active MSM, whatever their sexual practice, it was in all but name still a blanket ban. A bit of research made it clear the ban was a hangover from the HIV crisis from 1983 – but with advances in medical technology making the screening process easier, and a shift in the demographic of HIV diagnoses, something just didn’t add up.
