BY ZACK FORD

A new study from the Network for LGBT Health Equity shows that in a given year LGBT Americans spend 65 times more on cigarettes — an estimated $7.9 billion — than is spent on all LGBT advocacy combined. Nearly a third of all people who identify as LGBT smoke, rates 68 percent higher than the national average (19.5 percent). The Network believes this data proves that “smoking is the LGBT community’s biggest health concern.”

Numerous other studies have similarly found that not only are LGBT people more likely to smoke, but also less likely to quit. Three main factors contribute to these high rates of substance abuse: minority stress, a health care system that doesn’t recognize the unique needs of LGBT people, and targeted marketing by tobacco companies in LGBT publications. In particular, tobacco companies have engaged in predatory marketing particularly when it comes to menthol-flavored cigarettes, the only kind of flavored cigarettes that the Food and Drug Administration did not ban in 2009.

Image: THE NETWORK FOR LGBT HEALTH EQUITY

Read more at ThinkProgress.org

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BY LYDIA O’CONNOR

Recently released data from the 2012 U.S. Census revealed which cities have the highest concentration of same-sex couple households in the country. The surprisingly frontrunner? Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where same-sex couples make up a whopping 2.8 percent of total households. The Florida beach town has long been a destination for the vacationing LGBT community and is home to 19 gay resorts.

The real jaw-dropper, however, comes with a switch-up between two much larger cities. With 2.5 percent same-sex households, San Francisco came in a narrow third (third!) to Seattle, where gay households are suddenly booming. The city leaped from an estimated 1.7 percent of households in 2011 to 2.6 percent in recent data, nudging San Francisco from its cherished gay pedestal.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Ft. Lauderdale dethrones San Francisco as gayest city first appeared on Lesbian.com.