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.
Tobacco and Cannabis Use Survey
The Tobacco and Cannabis Study at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in collaboration with the Los Angeles LGBT Center, is conducting a survey to understand how experiences with tobacco and cannabis use may differ for LGBTQIA+ young adults compared to cisgender, heterosexual young adults.
This survey is available in English and Spanish. Eligible participants will earn $10 via Venmo.
Mission
The Network directs We Breathe, the Statewide Coordinating Center to reduce LGBTQ tobacco-related disparities. We Breathe provides expertise on working with LGBTQ communities, preventing and reducing tobacco use among LGBTQ Californians, and addressing tobacco-related health disparities within LGBTQ communities, to help funded projects reach their goal to eliminate tobacco use by 2035 in California.
- FACILITATING CONNECTIONS: Connect LGBTQ stakeholders across the state with projects and resources to support tobacco-free communities
- CREATING MATERIALS: Create LGBTQ-specific educational materials for events, social media, presentations, and news articles
- DISTRICT DAYS: Support opportunities for local partners to educate elected officials
- POLICY PLATFORM: Identify policy and system change strategies and priorities for preventing and reducing tobacco use among LGBTQ Californians
Educational Materials
Resources
- For free, personalized, confidential quit services in six languages, please visit: NoButts.org & NoVapes.org.
- The California Department of Public Health/California Tobacco Control Program: Website Directory.
- 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.
- 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.
- FDA Tobacco Compliance and Enforcement Report. Accomplishments and Activities of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products Office of Compliance and Enforcement Read More.
- Fighting Flavored Tobacco: A best practice guide for developing local policy campaigns to restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products in California. Read More.
- LGBT Health Link: Offers a guide to LGBT Best and Promising Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs. Read more.
- PUP in Smoke: Why Youth Tobacco Possession and Use Penalties Are Ineffective and Inequitable. Read more.
- Story of Inequity: A public education campaign from Tobacco Free California, detailing how Big Tobacco has targeted LGBTQ communities. Read more.
- 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.
- The Center for Tobacco Policy Organizing: Second-hand Smoke LGBTQ Poll 2019 Survey Data. Read more.
- The Center for Tobacco Policy Organizing: Tobacco Retail LGBTQ Poll 2019 Survey Data. Read more.
- 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.
- 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.
- Tobacco Industry Targeting Priority Populations: Focus groups results detailing how the tobacco industry targets LGBTQ and African-American communities: Read more.
- 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.
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 Dannie Ceseña at dcesena@health-access.org for additional information.
Understanding LGBTQ+ Identities and How to Engage the Community in Rural Settings
In the News
Get Involved
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For more information on how to join the We Breathe Advisory Committee, or your local tobacco control coalition, please contact Dannie Cesena at dcesena@health-access.org.
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.
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 x366
– 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
The OUT Against Big Tobacco Coalition seeks to pass a ban on the redemption of tobacco coupons in the City of West Hollywood and a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco in the cities of San Fernando, Santa Monica, and Signal Hill. In addition to our policy interventions, the Coalition aims to promote and support healthy behaviors through engaging with members of the LGBTQ community though public education, community presentations, and media efforts across Los Angeles County.
For more information:
Chris Records / chris@eqca.org / (951) 880-3307
eqca.org/outagainstbigtobacco
