Lighting Up: Smoking and GLBTQ YouthThis feature was created by Kelly. Kelly interned with Advocates for Youth during fall semester 2005. Smoking is bad for me. I know it. You know it. We all do. But somehow, quitting smoking is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. [Don’t worry; this isn’t another “smoking is terrible!” lecture.] Each November, campuses and communities around the country take part in the Great American Smokeout. In the spirit of the Great American Smokeout, I just want to ensure that each of us has information to make informed, healthy decisions about what role (if any) each of us permits smoking to take in our life. After all, smoking isn’t dangerous for LGTBQ young people just because of the physical consequences, although they are plentiful and severe. Tobacco companies are specifically targeting us in order to increase their profit margins. Of course tobacco companies are doing everything they can to sell more cigarettes! What may surprise you is that, despite age restrictions and legal prohibitions on advertising cigarettes to young people (anybody remember Joe Camel?), queer teens are at much higher risk of smoking than are straight teenagers. Smoking rates among gay and lesbian adolescents are not only on the rise, but they are increasing at faster rates than among our straight peers. So why are LGBTQ youth are more likely to light up than our straight peers? Partly, this is due to manipulative marketing campaigns by the tobacco companies—they’ve taken an active interest in LGBTQ youth. For example, consider Project Sub-Culture Urban Marketing plan – dubbed Project SCUM within the industry – that is specifically aimed at the LGBTQ community and the homeless. The plan was developed after the Master Settlement Agreement (for a comprehensive summary of the MSA, see the California Department of Justice’s explanation) banned direct advertising to youth. Surprise, surprise – Project SCUM’s launch just happened to coincide with a spike in smoking rates in the LGBTQ community.[1] Essentially, this means that the tobacco companies are manipulating our friends, families, and communities into buying their extremely addictive and unregulated product so that they can make billions of dollars selling a product that leads to death and disability among millions of Americans each year. [Experts estimate that nearly 450,000 people die each and every year from illnesses associated with cigarette smoking; 8.6 million people experience serious illness due to smoking).[2] Many in the LGBTQ community will eventually have to deal with the long-term consequences of smoking – consequences such as lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and stroke. However you don’t have to wait 30 years to pay the price! There are also some nasty short-term effects, including:
We all have heard that we should “just say no,” or something else that only manages to make us laugh. I’m not here telling you what decision to make – it’s about using all available information to make decisions that are both healthy and right for you. Use this information for yourself, talk about it with your friends, or use it for your bio … Just consider the whole picture, and not what you get in attractive advertising campaigns. If you would like more information on smoking and tobacco products, the following is a list of helpful resources:
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