A Russian Politician Has Said Parliament Should Ban Blood Donations From Homosexuals.

Mikhail Dyegtyaryov, a member of the Russian parliament’s lower house and a candidate for the mayor of Moscow, said the move was necessary to combat’s rapidly-rising Aids levels.

Many experts, however, say Russia’s high drug addiction rates pose a greater HIV threat

‘We will suggest an amendment to the law on (blood) donations on the order of the health ministry that returns homosexuals to the list of contra-indicated donors,’ the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

A law passed in June prohibits spreading ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations’.

It has sparked criticism from western governments and led to calls for a boycott of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi next February.

Protesters hold a demonstration against anti-gay legislation in front of the Russian Consulate in New York (Picture:AFP/Getty Images)

The broadcaster Stephen Fry wrote to the prime minister calling for him to support a boycott though David Cameron rejected the call.

But the anti-gay measures are popular with many Russians and with the powerful Orthodox Church.

Gay activists say that the propaganda law has increased discrimination against them and emboldened vigilante-style attacks.

One of them, Yelena Kostyuchenko, who said she regularly gives blood, wrote on Twitter on Monday that she had been asked to donate that very day.

‘Next time I’ll say – I’m sorry, I’m a lesbian, I don’t deserve to give blood for your family members. Keep looking,’ she wrote.