Did CDC Say 'It's Gay to Smoke' This Vio? |

Contents:

• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER (LGBTQ+) PEOPLE
• DID CDC SAY 'IT'S GAY TO SMOKE' THIS VIO?
• WHY DO GAYS SMOKE SO MUCH?
• THE SPECIAL, TOXIC RELATNSHIP BETWEEN GAYS AND SMOKG
• QUEER QU: GAY SMOKERS’ PERSPECTIV ON A CULTURALLY SPECIFIC SMOKG CSATN SERVICE
• FACT CHECK: CDC DID NOT LNCH 'IT'S GAY TO SMOKE' AD CAMPAIGN -- IT'S A DE-OLD FAKE AD FROM A SATIRE NEWS SE

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER (LGBTQ+) PEOPLE

Smokg among lbian, gay, and bisexual adults the Uned Stat is much higher than among heterosexual/straight adults.

3%) of lbian, gay, and bisexual adults smoke cigarett, pared wh about 1 9 (11. The CDC released a vio that said, "It's gay to smoke. In mid-April 2021, a TikTok vio purported to show an anti-smokg PSA that said, "It's gay to smoke.

DID CDC SAY 'IT'S GAY TO SMOKE' THIS VIO?

It then showed a mera poted at a screen that played the "It's gay to smoke" clip. "Are they smokg, or are they gay?

The words "It's gay to smoke" are followed by the mentn of the CDC. In sum, the purported CDC PSA that claimed "'s gay to smoke" origated as satire om The Onn. I’ve jt learned om NPR’s All Thgs Consired that California, gay men and lbians are 70 percent more likely to smoke than the general populatn.

In a sterlg example of why I try not to listen to too much NPR, reporter Sarah Varney immediately segued to the perceived need for more anti-smokg ads targeted specifilly at gays. In other words, Varney implicly assum that gays are eher too stupid to have gotten the msage that smokg is bad for you or too irratnal to have modified their behavr acrdgly. A more quisive reporter might stead have raised the obv qutn: What good reasons might gays have to smoke more than other people?

WHY DO GAYS SMOKE SO MUCH?

In four mut of air time, the clost Varney me to addrsg that qutn was to suggt that for gays, steppg outsi for a cigarette n be a good way to meet people—as if the sire to meet people somehow differentiat gays om straights. At the same time, she managed to overlook the bldgly obv: Gays are disproportnately childls, and childls people are more likely to smoke.

As a matter of fact, childls hoeholds (whether gay or straight) spend, on average, 56 percent more on cigarett and alhol than their childbearg neighbors. That alone might be enough to expla why perfectly ratnal gays (along wh perfectly ratnal childls straights) smoke more than their neighbors. But fay size is not the only dimensn which gays—particularly those gays who intify themselv as such to pollsters—are different om straights.

The openly gay face some social opprobrium.

THE SPECIAL, TOXIC RELATNSHIP BETWEEN GAYS AND SMOKG

Maybe ’s not too surprisg, then, that out-of-the-closet gays and out-of-the-closet smokers are disproportnately the same people. (You n image the possibili: “Now that my parents have learned to al wh my gayns, I might as well tell them I smoke. I’m not sure how to tt those hypoth, and I’m not sure how plsible they are, but surely they’re both more plsible and more rpectful than the suggtn that gays need to see specifilly gay-oriented advertisg before they n unrstand that smokg is bad for them.

QUEER QU: GAY SMOKERS’ PERSPECTIV ON A CULTURALLY SPECIFIC SMOKG CSATN SERVICE

Why, then, should gay smokers be the unique exceptn to the le that smokers behave ratnally? Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people smoke more often than their straight and cisgenr lleagu and iends.

FACT CHECK: CDC DID NOT LNCH 'IT'S GAY TO SMOKE' AD CAMPAIGN -- IT'S A DE-OLD FAKE AD FROM A SATIRE NEWS SE

Populatn is eher lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (LGBT), acrdg to a Williams Instute report. 6% of lbian, gay and bisexual people were current smokers 2015, pared to 14. For example, rearch suggts that gay, bisexual or lbian people are five tim more likely to say they’ll never ll a qu-le for smokg.