Rainbow Smoke Out challenges LGBTs to kick the habit

Greg Henchar and Victor Lopez have issued a challenge to the listeners of their weekly Gay Safe Haven Rainbow Hour radio show. They want the LGBT community to give up smoking.

The couple launched their â┚¬Å”Great Rainbow Smoke Outâ┚¬Â on their radio program as a way to convince listeners to put down cigarettes. Both men have smoked most of their lives.

â┚¬Å”Honestly the inspiration was for us to quit smoking,â┚¬Â Henchar said. â┚¬Å”If we announced we were going to quit on the air, we knew we would. It has grown into gaining support and offering support to others who want to do the same.â┚¬Â

Henchar and Lopez have started a Facebook page for the Rainbow Smoke Out where people can offer support, suggest ways to kick the habit and to just share frustrations. Within a week of its launch, more than 100 people have taken the pledge to stop smoking on Aug. 1.

â┚¬Å”Our topic on the radio this month have been addictions and habits and smoking is both a habit and an addiction,â┚¬Â Henchar said. â┚¬Å”The more you research what's in cigarettes, the more you realize there is some nasty stuff in there.â┚¬Â

According to a new report from the American Lung Association, LGBT people are more than twice as likely to use tobacco than the general population. Even at a higher risk of developing a smoking addiction are bisexuals, the report says.

The report says that sexuality is not linked to tobacco addiction, but that LGBT communities face different stresses and more aggressive marketing strategies by tobacco companies.

â┚¬Å”We both come from a time when we could smoke at our desks and my high school had a smoking lounge,â┚¬Â Henchar said. â┚¬Å”I've quit before but started up again about a year ago.â┚¬Â

New packaging for cigarette packs debut later this year and will depict diseased lungs and other side-effects of smokingâ┚¬â€images Henchar said he wants to avoid seeing.

â┚¬Å”They're true to life,â┚¬Â he said. â┚¬Å”It's a scary and accurate depiction.â┚¬Â

The Gay Safe Haven Rainbow Hour will explore the topic throughout the rest of July and offer updates on ways to quit smoking throughout August. To listen to the webcast, visit GSHRadio.com.