Luckily, we have an amazing resource in the District! Outtoquit.org not only provides you with where to go for Tobacco Cessation information but it also provides you with facts about how the Tobacco Companies are targeting the LGBT (I use LGBT because that is how I was raised HA HA- “you say tomato TA MA TO”) communities. What I don’t understand is why I have to have constant arguments with my friends about the Tobacco Companies evil ways. . . the evidence is clear!
Check out Outtoquit.org and encourage someone you know in the District to call 1-800-QUIT-NOW to get their FREE patches or gum to help them start quitting today! (wow I sound like a commercial!)

The GLBT Community is Disproportionately Impacted by Tobacco Members of the GLBT community smoke at a far greater rate than that of the general population, although estimates vary widely. In one 2004 California Study, lesbian women were 70% more likely to smoke than other women, and gay men were more than 50% more likely to smoke than other men. More recent research suggests this number may be even higher. The LGBT National Tobacco Control Network estimates that the GLBT community is 50% to 200% more likely than others to be addicted to tobacco.

Smoking and HIV/AIDS Smoking weakens the immune system, and makes it even harder to fight off opportunistic infections associated with HIV. Smoking also increases the risk of HIV-associated malignancies and other cancers found among people living with HIV/AIDS. Further, HIV positive individuals who are at greater risk for heart disease because of lypodystrophy, significantly compound that risk by smoking.

Tobacco Companies Have Targeted our Community The tobacco industry spends more than $13 billion each year to promote cigarette use in the United States. The Tobacco company has targeted the GLBT community since at least 1991, advertising at Pride and other GLBT community events, and contributing to both national and local GLBT and HIV/AIDS Organizations. An early Tobacco industry document described the plan for increasing sales among San Francisco’s gay and homeless populations, it was labeled “Project SCUM”.

Social Stress Factors also Contribute to Increased Smoking Rates 30% of gay, lesbian, and bisexual high school students in the District of Columbia said they were bullied at least once on school property in the 2006-2007 school year. More than a quarter of GLB high school students said they had skipped school once or more in the past month because they felt unsafe in school or on the way to school. Social stress factors such as these contribute to greater smoking rates.
(All of the above statistics are taken directly from “Out to Quit- The Facts” http://www.outtoquit.org/facts.html)