A new report shows LGBTQ+ people are twice as likely to vape
A new report from the US Department of Health and Human Services has revealed that members of the LGBTQ+ community are twice as likely to vape as their straight counterparts.
The report, which comes in at a staggering 837 pages, was issued by the Surgeon General and compiled using data from 2019 to 2021. It showed that 37.8% of LGBTQ+ people have vaped, compared to just 16.5% of straight people.
To break it down even further, 32% of gay men have supposedly vaped at least once in their lives, compared with 27% of lesbians. However, it is our bisexual comrades who really mean business when it comes to sampling Lost Mary’s fruits as the report showed that nearly half (47%) of bisexual people have had a puff in their lifetime.
The report notes that data on transgender Americans’ tobacco use was not widely available for analysis.
As to where these statistics stem from, the report suggests there may be a link between tobacco consumption — be it through vaping or traditional cigarettes — and the levels of stigma faced by an individual. It points to a 2014 survey which found that LGBTQ+ youth in states with “substantial structural stigma,” such as fewer protective policies for LGBTQ+ people and less school-level social support, were more likely to smoke than LGBTQ+ people in less stigmatised environments.
“Residing in a state with a higher structural stigma score was a unique risk factor for smoking among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth,” the report reads, “…their heterosexual counterparts residing in states with high levels of structural stigma were no more likely to smoke than those living in states with low levels of structural stigma.”
“Tobacco use is a singular health threat to LGBTQAI+ communities,” said Kristy Marynak, a senior science adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a co-editor of the report, as reported by NBC News. “This report finds that nearly one in five of all deaths in the United States are caused by tobacco, and it shines a light on the disproportionate burden borne by certain communities, including LGBTQAI+ communities.”
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