All "butt" jokes aside, smoking is a real and prevalent issue in the LGBT community. Here in New York City, home to one of the largest gay populations in America, the city just ended an NYC Quits program, which gave away free patches and gum to any New York City resident who wanted quitting assistance. As the nation, especially cities, which often have highly concentrated LGBT populations, move towards the cessation of indoor and public smoking as the new national public health issue, the LGBT population seems to be one of the populations that just won’t give up the habit.

A new study done by the University of Colorado Cancer Center attempted to discover the smoking habits of people who identify as LGBT and how likely they are to quit smoking in the future. The findings were quite astounding. As a baseline, the study found that 80% (!) of LGBT people in the study smoked daily. Even though this is akin to comparing apples to oranges, as they are studying LGBT people in Colorado, that is a deep contrast to the average of 14% of the population who identify as daily smokers in NYC. Of those polled, almost one third reported smoking more than 20 (!) cigarettes a day. Fewer than half the people studied had tried to quit in the last year (47.2%) and less than 10% had plans to quit anytime soon.

The survey covered 1,633 LGBT smokers at over 120 bars and clubs, and used four factors to indicate the chance that a person was going to stop lighting up: daily smoking, ever having used nicotine replacement therapy, a rule that smoking is banned in their own home, or seeking advice for their primary care physician regarding quitting smoking.

Co-author of the study Arnold Levinson said, "[W]e need public health campaign to get the GLBT smoker population thinking about quitting."

However, was the study skewed? Are people at LGBT bars and clubs more likely to smoke in general? Especially if they are out at a bar or club drinking, many people are more likely to light up—but then again, that wouldn’t make any difference to the overwhelming amount of people who identified as smoking daily. Here in NYC, due to our indoor AND outdoor smoking laws, seeing who is a smoker has become easier, as smokers are now herded like sheep five feet outside the door of any club or bar. Some smokers find refuge in the smoking community, asking to borrow or "bum" cigarettes or lighters from fellow smokers outsides of gay bars and clubs. Most understand the need for a cigarette, and the need for camaraderie, given the persona non grata status afforded to most smokers in NYC.

As cities are increasingly moving towards becoming bastions of public health, and the LGBT community stays as one of the last big smoking demographics, how will this disparity affect us? Many couples—whether long-term or very-very-short term—are affected by accommodating one smoker and one non-smoker, and many patrons of gay bars from both sides of the smoking aisle are upset by each other. Smokers feel ostracized for a personal choice (some even go so far as to say that their civil liberties are being infringed upon) while non-smokers feel that a few feet outside the door is not a far enough gap between them and second-hand smoke.

What do you think? Are you alarmed by the smoking statistics? Do you think that bars and clubs should be excluded from the smoking ban? Have you ever been in a relationship that is affected by smoking? Should exceptions be made for a short post-coital puff?