LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender)

American Lung Association Highlights Health Disparity in New Report on Tobacco Prevalence in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community
U.S. Newswire, 2010-06-29

The American Lung Association's latest health disparity report, Smoking Out a Deadly Threat: Tobacco Use in the LGBT Community, examines the trend of higher tobacco use among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the need for additional research specific to this community.

Most state and national health surveys do not collect information on sexual orientation and gender identity; however, there are current data indicating the LGBT population smokes at a higher rate than the general public. ...

Tobacco use among sexual minorities, USA, 1987-2007 (May): A Systematic Review
doi:10.1136/tc.2008.028241 Tob. Control published online 10 Feb 2009
Tobacco Control, 2009-02-10

CONCLUSION
Increased attention to smoking among sexual minority populations is warranted in clinical practice and in the creation of prevention and treatment programs. In examining the ample evidence of disparities in suicidal ideation among sexual minority adolescents, Morrison and L'Heureux noted that the “[p]revention of GLBQ [gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer] adolescent suicide thus could entail treating the environments that interface with GLBQ youth in addition to treating the adolescents themselves.”[87] The same may well be true for elevated prevalence of smoking among sexual minorities. Moreover, there are specific evidence-based steps that can be taken to reduce the impact of smoking on sexual minority communities.

“Do you have a light?” Smoking keeps tight grip on LGBT community
Northwestern University, 2009-01-15

“The Illinois Tobacco Quitline is just busting at the seams this month,” said Sherrill Keefe, director of American Lung Association of Illinois-Greater Chicago. “People say, ‘This is the year I’m going to quit smoking.’”

But members of the LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender) community are 35 to 200 percent more likely to be smokers than the general public, according to the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network based in Boston.

Karyn Haney, a lesbian who quit smoking three years ago this January, is the project coordinator for Chicago's Howard Brown Health Center’s “It’s a Bitch to Quit” smoking cessation program. The center launched its current program at the beginning of the month.

“People in the program aren’t necessarily saying 'I’m smoking because I’m gay.' But there are stressors that push the LGBT numbers higher,” she said. “Every time I check my voicemail to see who wants to sign up for the program, it’s full.”

For some LGBT individuals, stress can stem from lack of acceptance, social isolation, low self-esteem and other psychological issues that often impact minorities can lead to coping behaviors such as smoking and even alcohol abuse, which is also more prevalent in the LGBT community. . . .

Does Tobacco Industry Marketing Excessively Impact Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Communities?
Julia A Dilley, Clarence Spigner, Michael J Boysun, Clyde W Dent, Barbara A Pizacani

Results: As expected, smoking prevalence was higher among LGBs than among heterosexuals. After adjustment for demographic differences and smoking status, gay and bisexual men reported more exposure to tobacco industry marketing (free sample distribution) than straight men, but were equally receptive to it. Lesbian and bisexual women were both more receptive to and reported more exposure to tobacco industry marketing than straight women.

Conclusion: LGB communities, especially lesbian and bisexual women, appear to be effectively targeted by tobacco industry marketing activities. Strategies to limit tobacco industry marketing, and increase individuals’ resistance to marketing, may be critical to reducing smoking among LGBs.

""If you know you exist, it's just marketing poison": meanings of tobacco industry targeting in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community," Smith, E.A.; Thomson, K.; Offen, N.; Malone, R.E., American Journal of Public Health 98(6): 996-1003, June 2008.

This study surveyed members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in order to determine how they viewed tobacco industry targeted marketing. The authors wrote, "Our findings indicated that focus group participants often responded positively to tobacco company targeting. Targeting connoted community visibility, legitimacy, and economic viability. Participants did not view tobacco as a gay health issue."

"Disparities in smoking between the lesbian, gay, and bisexual population and the general population in California," American Journal of Public Health [Epub ahead of print], June 28, 2007.

This study of smoking prevalence in California found that, "Smoking prevalence rates were higher in our sample of lesbians, bisexual women, and women who have sex with women than among women in the general California population. In the case of men, the only significant difference was that rates were higher among gay men than among men in the general population."

Beyond HIV: The gay community’s biggest health threat? Smoking.
by James Greer
Missoula Independent 18(27), July 5-12, 2007

When I came out of the closet, the foremost concern I heard from each family member was worry over how much harder my life would be as a gay man. After all, it’s still legal in the state of Montana to be fired from my job, evicted from my home and denied more than 1,000 rights granted to legally wedded partners­simply because I’m homosexual.

We’ve come a long way since the rioting drag queens of Stonewall made the first foray of the gay civil rights movement, or Barbara Gittings took to the pickets demanding homosexuals be viewed as societal equals. Civil rights struggles are never easy, and it takes fierce optimism to face the rabid intolerance spewed by talking heads from the right.
[] Yet many of my concerned family members felt the most severe threat to my well-being was not civil inequality but HIV. Much has changed since what medical professionals once referred to as Gay-Related Immune Deficiency first appeared in San Francisco and New York, when testing was not an option and my gay brethren attempted to outrun the symptoms that signaled a painful, imminent and isolated death. Today we can diagnose the virus using a simple, bloodless test in 20 minutes. Regular testing ensures that antiretroviral medications can be prescribed early in the infection, adding decades to the lives of those who test positive. That’s good news for people who get tested, but more than half of all new cases come from the 25 percent of the population who don’t know their status, leading to annual infection rates holding steady at around 40,000 nationally for far too long.

The Montana Gay Men’s Task Force on HIV and AIDS completes statewide surveys of gay and bisexual men’s health, compiling data on mental, physical and sexual health, and many of the latest results are alarming. The numbers show how, in the shadow of a pandemic, smaller­yet still devastating­scourges have seen none of the spotlight.

The 2006 survey, the only one of its kind in Montana, involved 250 gay and bisexual men between 18 and 65 and was administered in a variety of settings, including the Montana Pride Celebration, Task Force retreats, social events, and one-on-one outreach.

Sixty percent of gay men between the ages of 18 and 34 have experienced depression in the last year, and almost three-quarters have felt feelings of isolation. Roughly one in two men between 35 and 65 experienced depression in the last year. Among all age groups, one in 25 experienced domestic violence.

One in four gay men has tried methamphetamine; 75 percent of those were 34 or younger. This is compared to various state and federal surveys that place methamphetamine use at between three and eight percent of the general population. Meth abuse is statistically higher overall in the gay community, as it has strong ties to the party and club scenes throughout the West.

And, perhaps not so surprising in a community facing high rates of depression, isolation and drug use, mistrust of municipal health departments has risen 10 percent since 2001. Perhaps as a testament to community HIV-testing organizations like the Task Force, Missoula AIDS Council and Partnership Health Center, 90 percent of those indicating mistrust of health departments are still testing regularly.

Shocking rates of tobacco abuse among gay men have prompted discussion of a specific intervention directed at the LGBTIQ community. Nationwide, health centers have developed programs targeting the gay community’s high smoking rates. The Task Force survey showed 60 percent of 18- to 34-year-old gay or bisexual men smoked tobacco, compared to other surveys which show that Montana’s general population smoking rates hover around 20 percent. We also see higher rates of tobacco use within the HIV-positive community, increasing the risk for heart disease, certain cancers and opportunistic infections by as much as five-fold.

The tobacco industry is notorious for its unabashed advertising to the gay community, an ironic market considering the number of dollars spent by industry execs on conservative, anti-gay politicians. In the mid-’90s, ad companies targeted gay ghettos, rebellious generation X-ers and the homeless of San Francisco, using what they called Project SCUM, or Project Subculture Urban Marketing. The gay community’s response to Big Tobacco began on the West coast in the ’90s, and has since spread throughout the country­often taking on an angry, frustrated tone. Ads produced by organizations such as the American Legacy Foundation focus their audiences on in-your-face statistics, including the fact that tobacco causes more deaths in the LGBTIQ community than AIDS, drugs, breast cancer and bashings combined. ...

Los Angeles County Responds to Alarming LGBT Smoking Rates with Innovative New 'Last Drag' Campaign
Business Wire, 2005-10-27

Responding to disproportionately high smoking rates among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals, Los Angeles County's Tobacco Control and Prevention Project announced today the launch of a pioneering campaign to promote tobacco cessation to the LGBT community. The campaign consists of smoking cessation workshops specifically developed for LGBT individuals, advertising, a Web site and the first-ever gay anti-smoking street team.

LGBTs twice as likely to smoke, study says
Bay Area Reporter, Issue: Vol. 35 / No. 38 / 22 September 2005

In a recent statistical analysis by the California Department of Health Services, a startling trend was revealed. LGBT people are two times more likely to smoke than the overall population of California. The smoking prevalence in the queer community was over 30 percent, according to the CDHS results of a population-based study. The highest smoking rates were among LGBT youth ages 18 to 24 at 44 percent, which is two and a half times the overall smoking rate for this age group.

Calif. Gays Smoke At Double State Average
365Gay.com, 2005-09-06

A new study by the California Department of Health Services shows that more than 30 percent of the state's gay community smokes. The figure is double the state average of 15.4 percent.

The findings are part of the first-ever population-specific study conducted on smoking and indicates that even though smoking in general is declining, it is not doing so among gays and lesbians.

The new data also show that lesbians and bi women smoked almost triple (32.5 percent) that of general population women (11.9 percent). Gay and bi men smoked at 27.4 percent, significantly more than California men in general at 19.1 percent.

LGBT Community and Tobacco: Up in Smoke
Windy City Times, 2005-08-03

Considering that tobacco use within the LGBT community is reported to be significantly higher than the general population, the fact that tobacco kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murder and illegal drugs combined is causing concern in the community.