While overall smoking rates have declined in recent years, smoking rates remain higher among specific subpopulations, including the LGBTQ+ community. These differences are in large part due to the tobacco industry’s targeted marketing through advertising, price discounting and other strategies.[i] Every year the tobacco industry spends $9.1 billion in the United States marketing their deadly and addictive products.[ii]
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Every year tens of thousands of LGBT persons die from tobacco-related diseases.viii |
Individuals who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual use tobacco at higher rates than those who are straight and those who are transgender use tobacco at higher rates than cisgender individuals. In 2022, lesbian, gay, or bisexual high school students used tobacco products at nearly one and a half times the rate of straight students, 21.5% and 14.1% respectively.[iii] Further, in 2022, 20.5% of transgender high school students used tobacco products, compared to 14.8% of their cisgender peers.[iv] In 2020 smoking rates among gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults in the US were significantly higher than rates for straight adults, 16.1% and 12.3% respectively.[v] Over half (54.5%) of lesbian or gay adults who smoke use menthol cigarettes, a higher rate than straight adults who smoke.[vi] There is limited data available on smoking rates among transgender adults; however, one study found higher smoking rates among transgender adults than cisgender adults.[vii]
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“High rates of tobacco use within the LGBT community are due in part to the aggressive marketing by tobacco companies that sponsor events, bar promotions, giveaways, and advertisements.”– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
Big Tobacco has targeted LGBTQ+ communities with a variety of deceptive marketing tactics for decades, and it has paid off in billions of dollars in sales for the tobacco industry while costing thousands of lives. In fact, LGBT adults spend over $2.6 billion on cigarettes each year.[viii] Starting in the 1990s Big Tobacco has targeted LGBTQ+ communities by:
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Smoking causes approximately 30% of cancer deaths.xvii |
Big Tobacco’s deceptive marketing practices, including using flavors such as menthol, continue to incentivize tobacco use among LGBTQ+ communities and other populations, causing these groups to shoulder a disproportionate share of the real cost of tobacco use. Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body and remains the number one cause of preventable death.[xvi] Smoking is the single largest contributing risk factor to cancer in the United States, increasing the risk of at least 12 cancers.[xvii]
[i] The Truth Initiative, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A report entitled Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-By-State Look at the 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 19 Years Later. December, 2017.Available on-line at: https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what-we-do/us/statereport.
[ii] U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Cigarette Report for 2020, 2021 https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/federal-trade-commiss... [data for top 5 manufacturers only].; FTC, Smokeless Tobacco Report for 2020, 2021, https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/federal-trade-commiss... [Data for top 5 manufacturers only]. FTC, E-Cigarette Report for 2019 – 2020, 2022. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/E-Cigarette%20Report%202019...
[iii] Park-Lee E, Ren C, Cooper M, Cornelius M, Jamal A, Cullen KA. Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:1429–1435. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7145a1.
[iv] Park-Lee E, Ren C, Cooper M, Cornelius M, Jamal A, Cullen KA. Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:1429–1435. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7145a1.
[v] Cornelius ME, Loretan CG, Wang TW, Jamal A, Homa DM. Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:397–405. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7111a1
[vi] National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2020, 2019-2020, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive; https://pdas.samhsa.gov/#/
[vii] Buchting FO, Emory KT, Scout, Kim Y, Fagan P, Vera LE, Emery S. Transgender Use of Cigarettes, Cigars, and E-cigarettes in a National Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine July 2017.
[viii] National LGBT Cancer Network. Outlasting is an Act of Self-Love. A guide to helping you reimagine a smoke-free future. https://cancer-network.org/outlast-tobacco/
[ix] American Lung Association. Smoking Out a Deadly Threat: Tobacco Use in the LGBT Community. 2010. http://www.lung.org/assets/documents/research/lgbt-report.pdf
[x] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons and Tobacco Use. Updated February 28, 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/disparities/lgbt/index.htm
[xi] The Truth Initiative. Tobacco Use in LGBT Communities. February 2018. https://truthinitiative.org/news/tobacco-social-justice-issue-smoking-and-lgbt-communities. See Also American Lung Association. Smoking Out a Deadly Threat: Tobacco Use in the LGBT Community. 2010. http://www.lung.org/assets/documents/research/lgbt-report.pdf
[xii] The Truth Initiative. Tobacco Use in LGBT Communities. February 2018. https://truthinitiative.org/news/tobacco-social-justice-issue-smoking-and-lgbt-communities. See also Ramirez A. Philip Morris to Increase AIDS Donations. The New York Times. 05/30/1991, 1991; Company News.
[xiii] The Truth Initiative. Tobacco Use in LGBT Communities. February 2018. https://truthinitiative.org/news/tobacco-social-justice-issue-smoking-an...
[xiv] The Truth Initiative. One Trend That’s Changing Pride Festivals for the Better. 2017. https://truthinitiative.org/news/one-trend-changing-pride-festivals-better
[xv] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons and Tobacco Use. Updated February 28, 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/disparities/lgbt/index.htm
[xvi] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. Updated October 29, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/e...
[xvii] American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2022. Atlanta, Georgia. 2022.
