Smoking prevention groups go after tobacco ads targeting gays
The cigarette pitch demands a second look.
Two ripped, rakish men and one lean, pristine hound pause, inexplicably, in the cool shallows of a calm green sea.
“How gay is this ad?” R.E. Szego, a Portland tobacco-prevention specialist, asks when she sees such an image.
It’s a sincere question, not a slam.
Wooed for years by tobacco companies — who lavish free merchandise on their bars and clubs, sponsor their events and advertise heavily in their publications — gays, lesbians and bisexuals remain hooked on cigarettes, even as the general population smokes less.
But public health specialists are optimistic that a new ban on smoking in Oregon bars will cause a decline in the smoking rates of gays and lesbians, who tend to pick up the habit as teens coming to terms with stigma surrounding their sexual identity.
“If you were coming up gay, it used to be the only place you got to meet was in a bar,” says Michael Kaplan, executive director of Cascade AIDS Project and a former pack-a-day smoker. “If you wanted to fit in, you’d smoke.”
About one in three gay, lesbian and bisexual Oregonians smoke, compared to about one in five smokers in the state’s overall population, according to the public health division of the Oregon Department of Human Services. The disparity is worse among gay, lesbian and bisexual teens, who are 2 1/2 times more likely to smoke than their straight peers. What’s more, half of all gay Oregon smokers say they don’t want to quit.
Nationally, tobacco-related illnesses such as cancer and heart disease kill about 30,000 gays, lesbians and bisexuals each year, reports the American Cancer Society. AIDS kills about half as many, straight people included, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. See Smoking prevention groups go after tobacco ads targeting gays
The Oregonian - OregonLive.com -* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Amid Sex Scandal, Portland’s Gay Mayor Asked To Resign
Portland’s openly gay mayor, Sam Adams, was asked to resign by a representative from the Portland Police Association over the revelation that he covered up a sexual affair with a teenage boy during his mayoral campaign.
Adams, 45, humbled himself and asked for forgiveness at a Monday press conference, where he admitted that his long-standing denial of having a sexual relationship with 18-year-old Beau Breedlove was not true.
“I want to apologize to the people of Portland for my dishonesty,” Adams said. “I made a mistake. This was clearly an error. I clearly messed this one one up.”
A representative from the Portland Police Association asked for Adams to resign, saying that his actions had left him at risk of “blackmail,” reports The Oregonian.
“Had they attempted to blackmail me, I would have taken the appropriate steps,” Adams responded.
Rumors of the affair surfaced in 2007 during the mayoral campaign. Adams’ long-standing response has been to dismiss those reports as a “nasty smear.”
In a Thursday interview with a reporter from the Willamette Week, the mayor was confronted with evidence the newspaper had gathered over several months concerning the affair, including statements from several of Breedlove’s friends who said the young man had confided in them that the two shared an intimate relationship. Adams remained steadfast in his denial.
See Amid Sex Scandal, Portland’s Gay Mayor Asked To Resign
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Portland: Largest US city with openly gay mayor
Speaking into a bullhorn, he urged the protesters to continue pushing for legal same-sex marriage in all 50 states, but he urged them not to embark that day on an unauthorized march.
“This community is watching us, the nation is watching us,” he said. “They are going to judge us for what we do today, and today we do not have a permit to march — not because the city won’t let us but because this happened so quickly we couldn’t get the paperwork in.”
The Oregonian - OregonLive.com - Portland,OR,USA
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Portland’s first out mayor takes office
Although he’s aware of the importance of being the first gay man elected to helm one of the nation’s biggest cities, Sam Adams, the newly sworn-in mayor of Portland, Ore., intends to be a leader for all its citizens. “I don’t want to be a gay mayor,” he said. “I do want to be a great mayor. There is no gay pothole and no straight pothole. They’re just potholes.” Oregonian (Portland), The (12/30) Google (01/02) See Portland’s first out mayor takes office
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Finally a gay male character on Battlestar Galactica
Apparently my geek antennae haven’t been properly tuned as there have already been four special Battlestar Galactica webisodes aired. And as a special bonus the show’s first gay man is revealed in the first few minutes. And, as many already suspected, it is the aptly named Felix Gaeta who gets to be the pioneer.
This token gift from BSG creators for a gay character, which gay fans have been screaming for since the show’s beginning (nay, since the dawn on sci-fi TV) is both refreshing and a bit annoying. I don’t mean to complain because I am glad to finally have some acknowledgment, but it comes in the form of an addendum. Yes, BSG watchers are almost all fanatical enough that we would all watch webisodes as well as regular episodes but you can’t disavow that it was clearly an afterthought.
See Finally a gay male character on Battlestar Galactica
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