A new study has found the number of young gays and lesbians who smoke is nearly double the national average among teens. The findings were presented earlier this month at the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association’s (GLMA) annual conference in Rancho Mirage.

In the past, surveys have consistently found that GLBTs smoke at rates at least 40 to 60 percent higher than the general population. This new study includes national data specific to teens with same-sex attractions or behaviors, as well as results from a GLMA survey of GLBT healthcare providers about smoking and patient-counseling practices.

The study, prepared by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, also known as Add Health, surveyed over 12,000 adolescents in grades 7-12 to assess health status, and causes and contexts of health-related behaviors.

The results showed that 8 percent of participants indicated same-sex attractions or same-sex relationships, with 45 percent being females and 35 percent male. For youth with opposite-sex attractions or relationships, that figure is about 29 percent for both males and females.

“They definitely are smoking,” said Dana Toppel, coordinator for the Hillcrest Youth Center. “We don’t allow smoking in front of the youth center, so they have to go out walking and I would say… I don’t know an accurate percentage, but I would say over half of our youth, definitely – and I think that’s underestimating it – go outside and walk towards Washington Street where they are allowed to smoke.”

According to Toppel, even though many of the clients at the Hillcrest Youth Center are homeless, and oftentimes under 18, they still find ways to get cigarettes.

“We definitely talk about it,” Toppel said. “We do all kinds of drug, alcohol and tobacco education. I think that a lot of the youth are at a place where even if they are 18 years old, they have been smoking for four years that we know of, because we open our doors to youth between 14 and 24. I think that a lot of them are doing it because socially a lot of their friends are smoking, so that’s how it started, but now they are actually buying cigarettes. We try to address it, but it’s very difficult to get youth to quit.”

Susanna Concha-Garcia, who works as a community outreach manager with the American Lung Association (ALA) in San Diego and Imperial Counties, has specifically targeted the GLBT community in their cessation efforts. At the 2003 Pride festival, the ALA sponsored a performer on the youth stage and provided cessation kits that specifically targeted the GLBT community.

“That is something we are very much interested in, and we do realize that the LGBT community as a whole needs to have these kinds of initiatives just like any other community,” she said. “In fact, we consider them an underserved community, so we put more emphasis on working in the LGBT community in regards to tobacco cessation.”

According to Concha-Garcia, 2,000 new youth need to start smoking each day to keep sales up for big tobacco companies, and all current research shows that youth are particularly vulnerable to becoming addicted to substances.

“Because we have issues with runaway youth and families that are disgruntled with their LGBT youth, or youth having problems in school where they’re not accepted, or they are being picked on a lot that they want to leave school or home, then we have a lot of LGBT youth out in the streets without a place to live, or moving from couch to couch, and oftentimes one of the few things they are able to connect with is in the use of tobacco, and that is something we are very concerned about,” Concha-Garcia said.