JULY 2 - 8, 2010
PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS
PAGE 7
National
Media Trail Cops ID suspect in Pride shooting The San Francisco Chronicle reports a suspect in the deadly shooting during the city’s gay pride event is a 20-year-old man who may have known one of the victims. Police Lt. Lyn Tomioka says Ed Perkins of San Francisco is in custody on suspicion of murder. Perkins was arrested at the scene after 19-year-old Stephen Powell was shot multiple times and two others suffered wounds at a street party in the Castro district June 26. Police have recovered a handgun. Police do not suspect the shooting was a hate crime.
Court: Schools can enforce antibias rules
STATE PRIDE: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers opening remarks June 22 at an event at the Department of State celebrating LGBT Pride Month. AP Photo: Drew Angerer
Report examines high LGBT smoking rates By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer The American Lung Association this week released a report on what motivates so many LGBT individuals to smoke cigarettes, and urged increased national action to curb the disproportionately high rates in the community. “Smoking Out a Deadly Threat: Tobacco Use in the LGBT Community” analzyed data from 42 health surveys conducted last year on respondents’ sexual orientation, and also included information from the six states that have published health reports referencing LGBT tobacco use: Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. All of the state reports found smoking rates higher among gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals than in their heterosexual counterparts. The report noted that virtually no data was available about the prevalence of smoking in the transgender community. The complete data review found that gay men on average were between 1.1 and 2.4 times more likely to smoke than straight men, while lesbians had between 1.2 and 2 times the odds of smoking compared with heterosexual women. Bisexuals, however, reported the highest smoking rates. The state surveys found that between 3040 percent of all bisexuals reported that they
smoke, while the ALA estimates that about 20.6 percent of Americans were smokers in 2008. While there was little data about smoking among youth, the report cited one study that found that lesbians and bisexual teen girls were nearly 10 times more likely to smoke than heterosexual girls, while there was no difference among gay or bisexual vs. heterosexual boys. “Tobacco use is the number-one cause of preventable death,” said Chuck Connor, ALA president and CEO. “Any group that has higher-than-average smoking rates is likely to also suffer from illnesses and death at higher rates.” Bill Blatt, ALA’s director of tobacco programs, noted that while LGBT individuals are exposed to some of the same smoking risk factors as heterosexuals — such as having family and friends who smoke — the LGBT community might also be influenced by other elements. Stress and depression can lead one to begin smoking, and Blatt said research has shown that homophobia and the social stigma associated with being gay often cause higher levels of stress in LGBT individuals. Additionally, the report noted that tobacco companies were some of the first corporations to tailor advertising specifically to the LGBT community, and that the LGBT population is significantly less likely
The Washington Post reports universities may insist that officially recognized student organizations accept all students who want to join, the Supreme Court ruled June 28, and that such a requirement does not violate the constitutional rights of a religious group that wants to exclude gays. The court divided 5-4 in ruling that a university’s nondiscrimination policy does not unfairly target faith groups. In an opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court said the Christian Legal Society may not both seek official recognition from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law and ask for an exception from its policies. Hastings, located in San Francisco and the oldest law school in the California system, has nearly 70 recognized student organizations.
than the heterosexual one to have access to healthcare, which could impact ability to seek treatment and smoking-cessation programs. Gloria Soliz, facilitator of the “Last Drag” LGBT smoking-cessation program in California, said the nightlife culture in the LGBT community has also fueled the smoking prevalence. “I work with a lot of people who came out in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, which were decades where one was likely to come out in the gay bar. For many, bars were the only perceived safe places to come out. Bars promoted smoking and they would start to smoke to fit in, and learned to cope with the stress of being closeted or the social stigma by continuing to smoke,” she said. Soliz said smokers who are attempting to quit should think ahead when choosing their nighttime activities. “I tell people they need to plan ahead when they go out for social occasions and that, in the next few months, they may choose to stay away from friends who smoke or do other things besides going to the club at night. I had three ladies in the program who said, ‘You don’t understand, that’s what we do.’ The bar culture has normalized tobacco use within the LGBT community. Smoking doesn’t make a person gay, nor does it need to be a part of the LGBT community. If all
The Allentown Morning Call reports the suspect in the recent fatal stabbings of four people in Northampton had been released from state prison about two months ago after serving more than 15 years stemming from a 1992 third-degree-murder conviction. Michael E. Ballard, 36, was arraigned June 27 on four counts of criminal homicide in the stabbing deaths of his former girlfriend, her father, her grandfather and a neighbor. Ballard was jailed in 1991 for the death of Donald C. Richard, a registered nurse who was stabbed and had his throat slashed in his Allentown apartment. Ballard told authorities Richard made sexual advances toward him while showing him an apartment for rent. ■
See SMOKING, Page 15
— Larry Nichols
Murder suspect used ‘gay panic’ in ‘91 case