Cleveland Taco Week returns on Monday, April 10th!

Ohio tries to reduce smoking rates among queer teens

By Pete Kotz on Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 5:23 am

[
      {
        "name": "Ad - NativeInline - Injected",
        "component": "38482495",
        "insertPoint": "3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "5"
      },{
        "name": "Real 1 Player (r2) - Inline",
        "component": "38482494",
        "insertPoint": "2/3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "9"
      }
    ]

Try as they might, straight campaigns against smoking don't seem to be working on gay teens.

The Ohio Department of Health plans to spend up to $60,000 to help reduce smoking rates among gay and lesbian teens. It’s a small part of a $1.6 million federal grant it has to address chronic health issues in the state. But the money goes after a big problem. Nationwide, supposedly 59 percent of queer teens smoke. How the feds came up with that percentage is anyone’s guess, since it’s impossible to survey a population where half are still in the closet. But the feds nonetheless estimate that queer teens light up more than double the rate of their breeder counterparts…