BUTT OUT! Ending Tobacco Industry Exploitation of the LGBT Community (commonly known as “Butt Out”) is a project of Breathe California funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project which is headquartered in San Francisco, California. We work with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) serving organizations to combat tobacco industry exploitation of the LGBT community.
There is a need for a special project directed at the LGBT community. Our community has been specifically targeted by the tobacco companies since 1992 when the first cigarette ad appeared in a gay men’s publication. They have created specially designed ads for our community, which appeal at a minimum to our need to belong, quest for freedom, and sexual desires. One example is an ad which equated the “freedom to marry” with the “freedom to inhale.”
Tobacco companies have also given sponsorship money to LGBT organizations in an attempt to gain recognition as a “friend” to our community, to silence any concerns that might be raised about the unusually high level of smoking among gays, lesbians, transgender community members and queer youth (see below), and to draw attention away from Big Tobacco’s targeting of LGBT people. For example, the LGBT media watchdog group, GLAAD, at one time accepted tobacco sponsorship funding. One year they had a “smoking lounge” at their event sponsored by a specific cigarette brand, while at the same time GLAAD failed to speak out about the onslaught of cigarette ads directed at LGBT consumers.
Why do tobacco companies spend their money specifically targeting our community? They know that we have been and continue to be discriminated against by society, and therefore are more vulnerable. Statistics show that segments of society that have faced discrimination tend to smoke more. By targeting us, individual tobacco companies reinforce the messaging that feeds into our vulnerability.
In California:
•Men in the LGBT community smoke about 50% more than all men (27.4% vs. 19.1%).
•Women in our community smoke nearly three times as much as all women (32.5% vs. 11.9%).
•Transgender members of our community smoke twice as much as all Californians (30.7% vs. 15.4%).
•LGBT young adults 18-24 years old smoke over two and a half times as much as all young adults (43.7% vs. 16.6%).
LGBT smoking prevalence is from California Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Tobacco Use Study, 2004; General population smoking prevalence is from California Tobacco Survey, 2002.
There is a need for a special project directed at the LGBT community. Our community has been specifically targeted by the tobacco companies since 1992 when the first cigarette ad appeared in a gay men’s publication. They have created specially designed ads for our community, which appeal at a minimum to our need to belong, quest for freedom, and sexual desires. One example is an ad which equated the “freedom to marry” with the “freedom to inhale.”
Tobacco companies have also given sponsorship money to LGBT organizations in an attempt to gain recognition as a “friend” to our community, to silence any concerns that might be raised about the unusually high level of smoking among gays, lesbians, transgender community members and queer youth (see below), and to draw attention away from Big Tobacco’s targeting of LGBT people. For example, the LGBT media watchdog group, GLAAD, at one time accepted tobacco sponsorship funding. One year they had a “smoking lounge” at their event sponsored by a specific cigarette brand, while at the same time GLAAD failed to speak out about the onslaught of cigarette ads directed at LGBT consumers.
Why do tobacco companies spend their money specifically targeting our community? They know that we have been and continue to be discriminated against by society, and therefore are more vulnerable. Statistics show that segments of society that have faced discrimination tend to smoke more. By targeting us, individual tobacco companies reinforce the messaging that feeds into our vulnerability.
In California:
•Men in the LGBT community smoke about 50% more than all men (27.4% vs. 19.1%).
•Women in our community smoke nearly three times as much as all women (32.5% vs. 11.9%).
•Transgender members of our community smoke twice as much as all Californians (30.7% vs. 15.4%).
•LGBT young adults 18-24 years old smoke over two and a half times as much as all young adults (43.7% vs. 16.6%).
LGBT smoking prevalence is from California Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Tobacco Use Study, 2004; General population smoking prevalence is from California Tobacco Survey, 2002.
Butt Out recognizes that tobacco companies target the LGBT community, destroying lives in the process with their deadly products. Butt Out endeavors to create a conversation in the LGBT community around the recognition that smoking is one of our primary health concerns. We partner with LGBT organizations to affirm health and community by rejecting tobacco industry sponsorship and funding. Ultimately, Butt Out would like to see an LGBT community free from tobacco addiction.
As a direct result of Butt Out’s work:
•Eleven Bay Area based LGBT-serving organizations have adopted tobacco free funding policies so far
•Forty-eight people marched in the Castro for the Gay American Smoke Out in November of 2009 as we “Kicked the Grim Reaper’s Butt Out of the Castro!”
•Seventeen Gay-Straight Alliance presidents were educated about tobacco company targeting of LGBT youth and given materials to educate their members, and Butt Out continues to give presentations to LGBTQ youth groups
•The 2009 Frameline San Francisco LGBT Film Festival featured several educational components including short public service announcements about LGBT smoking issues, a handout given to hundreds of festival attendees that stressed the impact of smoking in movies on the viewer, and direct outreach opportunities to festival attendees and film professionals
• An LGBT Spanish language smoking cessation website based in Chile -- http://elijonofumar.cl/ -- has been created by the Chilean LGBT rights group MOVILH with material support from Butt Out and the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network
As a direct result of Butt Out’s work:
•Eleven Bay Area based LGBT-serving organizations have adopted tobacco free funding policies so far
•Forty-eight people marched in the Castro for the Gay American Smoke Out in November of 2009 as we “Kicked the Grim Reaper’s Butt Out of the Castro!”
•Seventeen Gay-Straight Alliance presidents were educated about tobacco company targeting of LGBT youth and given materials to educate their members, and Butt Out continues to give presentations to LGBTQ youth groups
•The 2009 Frameline San Francisco LGBT Film Festival featured several educational components including short public service announcements about LGBT smoking issues, a handout given to hundreds of festival attendees that stressed the impact of smoking in movies on the viewer, and direct outreach opportunities to festival attendees and film professionals
• An LGBT Spanish language smoking cessation website based in Chile -- http://elijonofumar.cl/ -- has been created by the Chilean LGBT rights group MOVILH with material support from Butt Out and the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network