policy & pridefest impacting the health of seattle’s lgbt community through effective tobacco...
TRANSCRIPT
POLICY & PRIDEFEST
Impacting the Health of Seattle’s LGBT Community Through Effective Tobacco Prevention & Control Policies
Communities Putting Prevention to Work
OurQ is made possible by funding from PUBLIC HEALTH—SEATTLE & KING COUNTY + U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES.
Gay City Health Project
Gay/Bi Men’s health organization founded in 1995 in Seattle, WA. Small non-profit with a staff of eleven.
Premiere provider of HIV/STI testing (More than 2300 clients last year)
Other holistic programs include: Social events for LGBT people in recovery, Arts programming; Queerituality; LGBT Library & Resource line
Tobacco work – media campaigns, cessation services
LGBT Tobacco Use Disproportionate use – twice as
likely as the non-gay population
Various reasons for this, including…
• Historically socializing in bars
• Targeted Marketing (Project SCUM), Event Sponsorship, etc
• Lends to framing it as a social justice issue
Project Background Received CPPW grant received in
Fall 2010 from Public Health Seattle-King County (approximately $200,000)
Focus on policy & systems change
Target Seattle LGBT PrideFest. Event held last weekend of June at Seattle Center / Space Needle
Two components – media campaign and policy project
Media Campaign Frame tobacco as more than a health
issue. It’s a social justice issue.
Imagery that was easily identifiable as gay; Iconic
Create the expectation that businesses & organizations that serve the LGBT community should care about our health
Have life beyond tobacco; possibly apply to other activism, health & political issues
Media Campaign“Our community has a history of combating injustice, and together we’ve made great strides.
But there are still forces at work against us. LGBTQ people are two times more likely to smoke than straight people. Why?
Take a look at the big picture.”
Policy Project
Gay City has a history of working with One Degree Events, producers of Seattle PrideFest
PrideFest draws 80,000 people to downtown Seattle
Projected 135 Businesses and Organizations as Vendors at the event
Gay City served as “Presenting Sponsor” for the event, with a $30,000 sponsorship
Policy Project Outcomes
PrideFest Vendors(N=128)
Basic Cessation Referral
Sponsorship
Comprehensive
Cessation Referral
Tobacco Free
Work DayOther
Vendors withExisting Policies (41)
20 2 27 2 11
Vendors creatingNew Policies (87)
69 29 0 0 5
89 31 27 2 16
Challenges
Unexpected resistance to policy change by local non-profits; media coverage
“Individual Rights” argument when working with a marginalized community
Vendors not understanding what was required, particularly small business owners
Timeline – more media, more capacity building
Successes
Catalyst for community discussion of tobacco issues in the LGBT community (even controversy in media)
New partnerships with other organizations
New policies created by 87 vendors
Created expectation among the community that businesses should care about our health
Set a standard for future PrideFests
More Information
Website: gaycity.org/ourq
Contacts
Jeff RinderleGay City Health [email protected]
Robert RothGay City Health [email protected]
OurQ is made possible by funding from PUBLIC HEALTH—SEATTLE & KING COUNTY + U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES.