Mark Twain once said, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." This couldn't have been more true for me back in 2003 as a pack-a-day smoker trying desperately to kick the habit. Some folks can successfully quit "cold turkey" the first time. However, for many smokers, multiple quit attempts are simply part of the overall quitting process. So what does 2011 have in store for you? Are you ready to kick the habit once and for all?
Many people in our community smoke cigarettes and as a result suffer from greater rates of disease and death. In fact, 30,000 queer and transgender people will die prematurely in the United States this year alone from tobacco-related causes. This is the equivalent of 75 filled jumbo passenger jets or 13.5 Titanic disasters. That is a lot of our partners, our friends, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and community members. The National Coalition for LGBT Health considers tobacco use to be one of the greatest health issues affecting our community today and for good reason when you consider that LGBT people smoke at rates almost 50 percent to 200 percent higher than non-LGBT people. In California, for example, queer and trans youth smoke at a rate of 44 percent. That is almost half of LGBT youth and two and a half times the smoking rate of their heterosexual peers.
What is going on?
Last year the American Lung Association put out a report entitled, "Smoking Out a Deadly Threat: Tobacco Use in the LGBT Community." The report highlighted a number of contributing factors to the high smoking rates in the LGBT community including stress and stigma, lack of health insurance coverage (suggesting a decrease in access to competent smoking cessation support), and the historical role bar culture plays in our social interactions. These high smoking rates can also be attributed to the heavy advertising and marketing by tobacco companies. The tobacco industry has actively reached out to the LGBT community through direct and indirect advertising since the early 1990s. We see it within our news publications, at our community events, and in our bars. Tobacco advertising is something that occurs in mainstream populations, but the difference is the tobacco industry found a niche in the queer community and is exploiting us for profit.
On one hand, tobacco companies pour money into many of our political causes such as AIDS charities and our media watch dog group, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. They've aligned themselves with us politically promoting values of personal freedom and pride; an example of this is a Lucky Strikes advertisement aimed at queer youth that simply reads: "When someone says, 'Dude, that's so gay' we'll be there." Yet, on the other hand, in 1994 RJ Reynolds launched a marketing campaign aimed at gay men in the Castro and the homeless population in the Tenderloin. The project was called Sub Culture Urban Marketing or "Project SCUM." Scum? How do they really feel about us?
In order to successfully reduce the high rates of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure, and ultimately the high rates of tobacco-related disease and death that affects LGBT people, we need to challenge the values that we as a community place upon tobacco.
I don't know how many times I've walked into a queer bar or gone to an LGBT community event where folks are outside puffin' away on their cigarettes. "Got a light?" "Hey man, can I bum a cigarette?" At what point did tobacco use in our community become so normalized? As a recent health awareness marketing campaign by the California LGBT Tobacco Education Partnership asks: "When did smoking become part of us?" Moreover, how do we break this community trend?
LGBT tobacco control advocates are working toward ensuring that queer and transgender smokers have access to culturally appropriate smoking cessation services. We are working within local communities to create greater protections from secondhand smoke exposure so we all have the right to breathe fresh air in the cities where we live, work, and socialize. Additionally, LGBT health advocates are providing relevant health education on the negative effects of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure to members of our community and working to remove tobacco industry sponsorship and marketing items from our bars and other social venues.
As we continue to do this, tobacco use within the LGBT community will become less of a cultural standard and we will begin to see a decrease in the high smoking rates afflicting our community. It is time that we as a community take a stand for our health. It is time for us to say no to an industry that calls us SCUM while taking our money and our health. Smoking isn't simply about personal freedom; it is a matter of social justice.
Widespread norm change around tobacco use within the LGBT community starts with individual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people taking charge of their own health. It's not too late to make and keep that New Year's resolution. There is no need to sugar coat it – quitting smoking is difficult; in fact it may very well be one of the most difficult things you do. But with preparation, the right support, and enough determination it can be done. 2011 is your year! For free help quitting smoking call the California Smokers Helpline: 1-800-NO-BUTTS or go to http://lastdrag.org
for information on smoking cessation classes in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
Lee Staub is a health education coordinator at the Tri-City Health Center in Fremont.