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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 2004)
19.2004 50 HUMOR Flaming homosexuals o a Gtxigle search for “Gay men and smoking” and you’ll get directed to exactly one Web site about the health risks G a y s a n d s m o k in g we face— plus 630 more dedicated to “smoking fetishes” (whatever that means) as well as a host of oth«_r also states that 37 percent of sweater, but what’s the point of fetishes 1 wasn’t even aware existed, having only 10 percent Kxly fat if gay teens reported hearing like “teen girls in ptxipy diapers." anti-gay remarks from faculty you have to cover it up? Forget the Information Age. We’re and staff. Nearly 70 percent Even worse arc gay bars or, as in the Ttx> Much Information Age. of them are being harassed or According to the 2001 Califor I like to call them, the Disco bullied, many of them on a Inferno. Hopefully Portland will nia Health Interview Survey, gays daily basis. follow California and New York and lesbians smoke 70 percent more by Marc Acito After that, who wouldn’t and ban smoking in nightclubs, than the general population. The want a drink and a cigarette? number seems shockingly high, but in the meantime 1 come home As a result, we are dying in sounding like Harvey Fierstein and smelling especially in health-conscious L.A., where it’s record numbers and Big Tobacco like the La Brea Tar Pits. hard to tell smoke from smog. Regardless, the fact remains that smoking is d(x;sn’t care. In fact, when RJ Reynolds put together a campaign the No. 1 killer in the gay, lesbian, bisexual or most smokers, the habit starts in adoles and transgender communities, cutting short the to target gays in San Francisco, they cence. But, according to the U.S. Centers called it “Sub-Culture Urban Mar lives of more queers each year than AIDS, hate for Disease Control and Prevention, 59 per crimes and suicides combined. keting” (or SCUM for short). cent of queer teens use tobacco while only 35 percent of straight ones do. The survey also concluded that the average The C D C proposed a study to gay man smokes twice as much as the average examine the smoking habits of W hat’s more, gay teens are twice as likely as straight one. (Then again, since no gay man homosexuals but was met, predictably, with their straight counterparts to engage in high- wants to be considered average, who knows opposition from the Religious Wrong, who risk activities like illegal drug use and alcohol what that means?) abuse (59 percent reported using alcohol before called it “an utter waste of taxpayer money” the age of 13). Most frighteningly, gay teens are And, despite their reputation for consuming designed to “promote homosexuality further in the culture.” healthy vegan fare like Casserole de Birken- three times more likely to attempt suicide. sttxrk, more lesbians die of lung cancer than So what’s this got to do with smoking? So it looks like we’re on our own. Simply breast cancer. put, gay adults need to start quitting and gay A study done by University of Adelaide in The statistics are Kim out by firsthand kids need to quit starting. Australia found a direct correlation between feelings of being marginalized by mainstream I know it ain’t easy. But consider this: A experience— and secondhand smoke. Just go to any gay party and the liveliest conversation is communities and the impulse to sublimate that Tulane University study showed that men who outside because that’s where everyone gix:s to discomfort through destructive behaviors. smoke more than a pack a day had a 60 per smoke. As a nonsmoker, I don’t mind, except According to statistics from PFLAG, the aver cent higher risk of impotence than those who now that I finally have only 10 percent Kxly age high schcxil student (gay or straight) hears never smoked. fat, I’m always freezing. I could put on a approximately 25 anti-gay slurs each day. PFLAG So let’s sec: You go to a bar to get laid. You D The Gospel According to Marc DR.CUREIT.THE DIRECTOR OF PUBUC HEALTH. IS OUR GUEST T0DW. OUR FR ST CALLER IS BOB FROM HAWTHORNE. KAUM 85.6 I*N HIV NEGATIVE, AND I JUST DON'T SEE WHY SYPHIÜS IS A BIG DEAL . HI DR. CURE IT ^ P a llia m i HAVING SYPHIUS MAXES IT 2 TO 5 TIM ES EASIER FOR VOL) TO GET HIV VMEN SOU HAVE SEX. smoke while you’re at the bar. You get impotent because you smoke. You don’t get laid. Then you die of lung cancer. My, isn’t smoking pkmurrous ? But fear not— Marco has a solution. The next time you feel the impulse to take a drag on your cigarette, I suggest you lean over to the person next to you and give them a gtxxl lick instead. Think o f it as community build ing. Or at least a more effective way of getting laid. Seriously, I tmly believe the key to ending the smoking epidemic is by fostering com munity, especially with gay youth. We need to learn that in times of stress we should be reaching for one another instead of a death stick. It’s time we filled our hearts rather than our lungs. Will it work? I don’t know. But is it worth trying? You bet your ash. And that, my friends, is The Gospel According to Marc. jH newel, How I Paid for College, mil he published in September. Write him at marc@marcacito .com. M A R C A c i t o ’ s cYYlm / eoidiaiuf tequesis the/ (intuit oj luucx ptesetic& at u 99 ohe/ CW e/dditvyc€ y O t o v a l L a tv ¿Á Service/ op TRecanunUm enl Ja v <rA lt c Catiples and <rA tt c&aniMuuiitie& ALSO, IF V0U DGNTGET TESTED REGULARLY VOU COULD HAVE SYPHILIS AND NOT KNOW IT AFTER A W t £ , IT CAN CAUSE PERMANENT „ DAMAGE TO HOUR HEART AND BRAIN. ^ (AHEM)...WELL, IT SOUNDS LIKE BOB IS PRETTY BUSY. LET'S MOVE ON TO . FRANK IN DOWNTOWN... Shales: (Sunday, dìhm cA 2 1 , 2 0 0 4 SypNHa la apraad by ‘ aMn-to-akln’ contact, through anal, vaginal A NO oral aax. Many peopla don't notlca tha aymptoma or know thay have ayphila. Tha Initial aora la palnlaaa. Tha good nawa la aypMNa In aaally curad. (jitney.- 2pm (o^icianl&s qathesi/ a l 1pm) (< Placo: 7 ,i s i r€xmy%eyaUaaal r€AutcA, 112b S C\V SPaxk ¿Avenue GET TESTED FOR SYPHILIS J ie e op chatqey and open ta they p nètto M U L T N O M A H CO U N TY HEALTH D EPARTM ENT 5 0 3 9 8 8 37°o w w w .stopthesores.org c Funded by OHS Oregon Department of Human Servkaa. Sponsored by The Multnomah County Health Department end C u rad # AIDS Project TT|* M m # t p n J y m a M V t i u n U p U r C*##ty o*p#rtr,##t #r ruaan i t rokm . Jm t wl*< 0 * % " ky M e W t U | e w O a Mii « t »| .M " ) Visit l/te f/>rC;7//rC iveÁsile f a x iti pittnaturn aiuud t(ùs> and a d (C/m u ís - related events: www.pdxqtiie. a xq J
