Mexico City, Mexico - A little noticed Mexican health NOM, first approved in August and then published in the country's regulatory Official Federation Diary on October 26th, went into effect on Christmas Day. It essentially does away with a two-decade long ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, according to a report by Animal Político.

A NOM, or Norma Oficial Mexicana (Official Mexican Standard,) has the force of law. The Dirección General de Normas is a department of the Secretary of Economy and is responsible for creating the NOMs. They detail the form, format, and documentation that must be maintained for compliance to laws and regulations - they also detail fines and sanctions.

The old norma (NOM 003-SSA2) explicitly banned gay and bisexual men from donating blood based on their "practices" and their "increased probability of acquiring HIV or hepatitis infection".

The new norma (NOM 253) eliminates specific bans on gay and bisexual men and instead bans blood donations from people with HIV or hepatitis and their partners and people who engage in "risky sexual practices" regardless of their sexual identity.

In the new blood donor normas "risky sexual practices" are defined as those that may include "contact or exchange of blood, sexual secretions, or other bodily secretions between someone who might have a transmittable disease and areas of another person's body through which an infectious agent might be able to penetrate."

The United States and a number of Latin American countries which include Argentina, Chile, and Colombia have been mulling lifting similar longstanding bans that have been in effect since the HIV/AIDS crisis broke through decades ago.

If this report by the Mexico on-line news source proves to be correct, Mexico might be the first country on the American continent to lift such a ban.