Coming Out About Smoking

Young adults who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or intersex are smoking at significantly higher rates than their heterosexual peers, according to emerging data. A report produced by the National Youth Advocacy Coalition seeks to explore tobacco use among LGBTQ youth beyond its prevalence in the LGBQT community.

NYAC launched a nationwide research project in summer 2009 in order to provide a broader sense of tobacco use within the LGBTQ community. The project addresses the characteristics of smokers versus non-smokers and the different factors that impede and facilitate smoking cessation. According to the report, LGBTQ youth often view smoking as a social activity that binds people in the community together; smoking socially is a way to unite over the stresses of discrimination. A total of 51 percent of the youth who participated in the project reported smoking at least once, with 48 percent of those youth reporting that they were currently non-smokers, 42 percent reporting that they were current smokers and 9 percent reporting that they were former smokers. Notably, 20 percent of the non-smokers said they considered themselves to be social smokers.

A successful campaign to end tobacco use, according to the report, must recognize the stressors that LGBTQ adults face, including discrimination and lack of family support. The next steps, the report argues, must include regional data collection and the inclusion of LGBTQ youth in government data collection like the U.S. Census and Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

The National Youth Advocacy Coalition is an organization that maintains a national collection of resources on information about LGBTQ youth. The report was published in August 2010.
 

Read the report.