We Breathe hosts a monthly Advocates and Allies meeting for CTPP-funded LGBTQ+ advocates to share space, discuss challenges, and celebrate victories big and small. This space is open to all projects.

We are here to support each other as we all collectively work to create equitable change within the field of tobacco prevention!

To join the meeting, please register here: bit.ly/WBmonthly23

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on tobacco-related news and advocacy opportunities.

For more information on how to get involved, please contact Ryan Oda at roda@health-access.org.

LGBTQ+ Resources

1. Kick It California
   For free, personalized, and confidential quit services in six languages, visit Kick It California and explore their Quit Vaping Support options.
   1. Kick It California's Services for LGBTQ Tobacco Users: What to Expect
   2. Kick It California's LGBTQ Champions & Allies factsheet in English and Spanish
2. California Department of Public Health - Tobacco Control Program
   Access a directory of resources and services related to tobacco control in California.
   Explore the Website Directory
3. The Tobacco Prevention Toolkit: Theory-based and evidence-informed resources created by educators, parents, and researchers aimed at preventing middle and high school students’ use of tobacco and nicotine. Read more.
4. This Free Life: A public education campaign from the federal Food and Drug Administration, designed to prevent and reduce tobacco use among LGBT young adults who use tobacco occasionally. Read more.
5. LGBT+ young people smoke and vape at a higher prevalence than non-LGBT+ peers - learn more here.

TGI-Focused Resources

1. Transgender Tobacco Cessation Toolkit
   A resource specifically designed for healthcare providers and organizations working with transgender individuals to assist them in quitting tobacco and addressing their unique needs.
   Access the Toolkit 
2. Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Health and Tobacco Use
   The CDC offers insights on the specific challenges faced by transgender people in quitting tobacco, along with tailored cessation support and resources.
   Read the CDC Resource 
3. National LGBTQIA+ Tobacco Control Network - TGI Cessation Resources
   A dedicated section for transgender and gender non-conforming people offering support and resources for tobacco cessation.
   Explore TGI Cessation Resources 
4. "Smoke Free" Resources for Transgender Individuals
   A campaign focusing on the health impacts of tobacco use in transgender individuals, including resources on how to quit, and healthcare considerations such as interactions with hormone therapy.
   Learn More About the Campaign
5. Transgender Health and Nicotine Use
   This resource from the National LGBT Cancer Network provides information on nicotine use and its effects on the trans community, with links to cessation tools and support networks.
   Visit the National LGBT Cancer Network
6. Transgender People and Tobacco Prevention Webinar
   A recorded webinar discussing tobacco use and prevention within the transgender community, offering insights on unique risks and successful cessation strategies.
   Watch the Webinar 

Reports

1. FDA Tobacco Compliance & Enforcement Reports
   Read about the FDA's accomplishments and activities regarding tobacco compliance and enforcement.
   View the FDA Reports 
2. FDA Tobacco Compliance and Enforcement Report. Accomplishments and Activities of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products Office of Compliance and Enforcement Read More.
3. LGBT Health Link: Offers a guide to LGBT Best and Promising Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs. Read more.
4. PUP in Smoke: Why Youth Tobacco Possession and Use Penalties Are Ineffective and Inequitable. Read more.
5. Story of Inequity: A public education campaign from Tobacco Free California, detailing how Big Tobacco has targeted LGBTQ communities. Read more.
6. Surgeon General’s Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth: Offers recommendations on how to protect children from a lifetime of nicotine addiction and associated health risks by immediately addressing the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use. Read more.
7. The Center for Tobacco Policy Organizing: Second-hand Smoke LGBTQ Poll 2019 Survey Data. Read more.
8. The Center for Tobacco Policy Organizing: Tobacco Retail LGBTQ Poll 2019 Survey Data.  Read more.
9. Tobacco Industry Targeting Priority Populations: Focus groups results detailing how the tobacco industry targets LGBTQ and African-American  communities: Read more.
10. Tobacco Retail Environment: Research by the Public Health Law Center on why the location of tobacco and e-cigarette retailers matter for public health. Read more. 
11. Virtual Learning - Youth E-Cigarette Prevention Materials
    Access lesson plans, activity sheets, and guides for educators to discuss e-cigarettes with their students.
12. California LGBTQ+ Adult Health Behaviors and Attitudes on Tobacco Use - A report based on the California LGBTQ+ Tobacco Survey from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research - can be viewed here.
13. Zyn & the Rise in Popularity of Nicotine Pouches - learn more here.
14. LGBT+ young people smoke and vape at a higher prevalence than non-LGBT+ peers - learn more here.
15. Surgeon General's Report: Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disparities and Death: Addressing Disparities - Read more.

Policy Resources

1. Commercial Tobacco-Free K-12 School Model Policy: The Public Health Law Center has prepared a comprehensive model policy that school districts and schools may adopt.
   1. Questions and answers.
   2. Alternative Measures.
2. Compliance Policy for Limited Modifications to Certain Marketed Tobacco Products: In this guidance, FDA sets out its compliance policy for premarket review requirements for two types of limited modifications to new tobacco products that were on the market as of August 8, 2016. Read more. 
3. Fighting Flavored Tobacco: A best practice guide for developing local policy campaigns to restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products in California. Read More.
4. Tobacco use & tobacco marketing exposure among transgender & gender non-conforming young adults in CA. The infographic from UCLA's Hub for Health Intervention, Policy and Practice (HHIPP) can be viewed here.

Trainings

We Breathe offers a wide array of online and in-person trainings for California Tobacco Control Projects throughout California. Trainers are subject-matter experts in areas such as public policy, organizing and communications, including We Breathe staff members and leaders from community-based organizations.

Past trainings include LGBTQ 101, How To Engage the LGBTQ Community, and Effective Social Media Strategies. If there is a training your coalition would like in your area, please contact Ryan Oda at roda@health-access.org for additional information.

Understanding LGBTQ+ Identities and How to Engage the Community in Rural Settings

Including LGBTQ+ Voices in Commercial Tobacco Control

We Breathe Introductory Webinar

Webinars

1. Trans Community and Tobacco - Chela Demuir and Queen Victoria Ortega host a special conversation about the effects of tobacco on trans bodies. You can watch the full video here.
2. LGBTQ Cessation: The Power of Collaboration  - Join We Breathe and our partners (UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Kick It California, the Tobacco Use Prevention Program, the Anaheim Regional Medical Center, and the LGBTQ Center Orange County) in learning how powerful collaborations with statewide technical assistance providers, regional projects, research institutions and local lead agencies have addressed the lack of access to LGBTQ Tobacco cessation programs in conservative areas and across the state. You can watch the full video here and in Spanish here.  
3. We Breathe Policy Platform webinar led by Program Coordinator, Isaias Guzman. The full recorded webinar can be viewed here.
4. We Breathe Policy Platform Briefing with the CA LGBTQ Caucus can be viewed here.

Video Projects

In July 2022, We Breathe released a series of Educational Interview Videos that provide support to LGBTQ+ community members who are trying to quit tobacco/nicotine, bring awareness to the health effects of smoking and highlight ways the LGBTQ+ community could avoid tobacco/nicotine use altogether. Watch the full series of videos here.

Amplifying Queer Voices: Mental Health and Tobacco Use Stories

LGBTQ individuals face health disparities linked to societal stigma, discrimination, and denial of their civic and human rights. Experiences of violence and victimization are frequent for LGBTQ individuals, and have a long lasting effect on the individual and community. Health equity within the LGBTQ community, especially within tobacco control, is acknowledging these experiences, striving to reduce these statistics, and investing resources to address disparities that have been caused by historic stigma, discrimination and inequities. This short video lifts up the voices of LGBTQ Californians who have experiences related to mental health and tobacco use.

Community Spotlights

• We Breathe Spotlight On - Fall of 2024

Media Coverage

We Breathe strives to create change beyond the “Just Say NO” rhetoric. In Ryan Oda’s Op-Ed, readers learn about the systemic change required to assist the reduction of tobacco use amongst LGBTQ+ folx through community building, awareness, and acknowledgment. Read Ryan's full op-ed via the following media outlets: 

• LGBTQ San Diego County News
• Outword Magazine
• LGBTQ Nation

• Guest Opinion: On smokeout day, trans folks need a world worth quitting for. 
• Big Queer Convo Takes on Tobacco Smoking Plight LGBTQ+ Community Faces

Current Subgrantees

Amador Arts 

Mission: To encourage, support, and promote the arts in our schools and community.

Pomona Valley Pride

Mission: To enhance and sustain the well-being of the LGBTQIA+ and allied communities by providing vital social, emotional, and support services, educational and arts programs, and advocacy.

Gender Alchemy 

Mission: Conjuring trans and gender expansive joy through community nourishment and advocacy.

Youth Leadership Institute (YLI)

Mission: Youth Leadership Institute builds communities where young people and their adult allies come together to create positive community change that promotes social justice and racial equity.

Ongoing and Previous Collaborations

Sacramento LGBT Community Center

Mission: To create a region where all LGBTQ+ people thrive; supporting health and wellness, advocating for equity and justice, and uplifting our diverse and culturally rich LGBTQ+ community.

Donnelly Community Services Center (formerly Imperial Valley LGBT Center)

Mission: To invest in the community by providing equitable and essential services, resources, support, and education to empower youth, individuals, and families.

The Arming Minorities Against Addiction & Disease Institute ( AMAAD)

Mission: To facilitate personalized individual access to programs and services that foster safe and supportive healthy environments for people to live, learn, and develop to their fullest potential.

Latino Equality Alliance ( Alianza Latina Por La Igualdad)

Mission: To advocate for equity, safety, and wellness for the Latinx Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ community.

The Out Against Big Tobacco Central Valley (OABT-CV) Coalition, supported by Equality California Institute, is an alliance of LGBTQ+ individuals and community organizations collectively working to address tobacco control and health inequity issues within California’s LGBTQ+ community. We’re standing up to Big Tobacco and fighting for institutional changes to protect future generations from their predatory practices. Our focus is on promoting health equity and reducing tobacco-related health consequences through education and local policy ordinances.

For more information:

Beatriz Baez | Program Manager | Beatriz.Baez@eqca.org
eqca.org/outagainstbigtobacco

OUT Against Big Tobacco Los Angeles (OABT-LA) began in 2018 at Equality California. Through its five-year tenure, OABT-LA had many accomplishments, including passing a comprehensive tobacco retail license in West Hollywood. OABT-LA is now overseen by the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network.

For more information:

Jessica Esquivel | Program Coordinator | jesquivel@health-access.org

https://californialgbtqhealth.org/out-against-big-tobacco/ 

LGBTQ Minus Tobacco is a dedicated, LGBTQ+-led initiative operating within the Bay Area, with a focused mission to combat the tobacco industry's detrimental targeting of LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities. Our unwavering commitment revolves around the reduction of tobacco usage and exposure within the LGBTQ+ community, achieved through a blend of community education and policy advocacy.

In Cathedral City, the project aims to reduce secondhand smoke exposure in outdoor dining and bar establishments. Advocating for healthier environments will include participation from community members in delivering educational materials to policymakers, collecting data and participating in media activities to increase awareness. In Coachella, this project aims to work with community members to reduce the availability of mentholated and flavored tobacco products that are often starter products for youth. In order to fight back against the current vaping epidemic it is important to advocate for stronger tobacco control laws. Additionally, the project will focus on increasing awareness about tobacco related health disparities and provide networking and skill building opportunities for the LGBTQ community.

More information

The San Francisco Community Health Center’s new LGBTQ+ Tobacco Control Program aims to reduce tobacco-related health disparities among the LGBTQ+ community through community health education, community organizing, and advocacy for tobacco-free policies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Components of this program include supporting local San Francisco Bay Area tobacco-control policies, working with local community colleges, development of LGBTQ+ specific tobacco health education materials, and community outreach/engagement.

PROUDLY AGAINST TOBACCO (PAT) COALITION One component of the LGBTQ+ Tobacco Control Program is the Proudly Against Tobacco (PAT) Coalition which is an interdisciplinary group of advocates for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) health equity focused on eliminating tobacco use within our various communities. The PAT Coalition aims to educate on tobacco-specific health disparities experienced by LGBTQ+ communities through community health education, research, leadership development and creating culturally appropriate LGBTQ+ health material.

For more information:

Chad Ngo, Program Manager / chad@sfcommunityhealth.org / Office: (415) 292-3420 ext. 366

- By engaging the community, we are empowering and mobilizing LGBTQ+ youth and allies in the City of Santa Ana to promote a campaign in support of a policy that ends the sale of flavored tobacco and menthol products. Passage of this policy will reduce youth access to tobacco products and mitigate tobacco-related health disparities among LGBTQ+ community members.

- By engaging the community, we are empowering and mobilizing LGBTQ+ young adults and allies in the City of San Diego to promote a campaign in support of a policy that prohibits tobacco-use in outdoor dining areas of venues including restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Doing this will mitigate tobacco-related health disparities among LGBTQ+ community members. This policy will also reduce secondhand smoke, secondhand aerosol emission, and thirdhand smoke exposure for all community members and visitors.

For more information:

Bryant Miramontes, Project Coordinator/ bmiramontes@ncaddoc.org / Office: (949) 595-2288 ext. 320

Proud 2B Free is a project aiming to reduce tobacco-related health disparities within LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more here or visit their website.