Butt Out is Busy Busy!

Butt Out is busy about town. Here's the scoop on what is happening with the group recently:

NCLR just adopted an anti-tobacco policy!

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, NCLR, became the latest organization in the San Francisco Bay Area to adopt a policy not to take tobacco money. The total number of community organizations who have adopted policies is now 20. We are proud to have a national organization like NCLR adopting a policy. This move is in keeping with their progressive work for justice. Go NCLR!

Butt Out is presenting to the School of the Arts GSA.

The School of the Arts in San Francisco has one of the highest incidents of smoking among teens. Butt Out will be presenting to their GSA about smoking in advance of the start of the cessation group at the school. It is essential to reach out to LGBT youth - 43.7% of our LGBT youth smoke. Wish us luck!

Watch out for Butt-Out at 18th and Castro February 20th.

Butt Out will be reaching out to the public February 20th at the corner of 18th St and Castro from 10-12pm (weather permitting). Butt Out will educate passersbys about the hazards of smoking, hand out literature about smoking cessation and gather valuable survey information about smoking in our community. We will also be signing up new supporters. One of the helpers on hand will be Travis the pit bull. Our little mascot will bow and wag and shake hands for the good fight Butt Out is waging.

Butt Out spoke out at the second hand smoke ordinance hearing.

City Hall is debating an ordinance aimed at reducing second hand smoke by forbidding outdoor dining smoke, smoking in movie lines and smoking in doorways, among other measures. Brian Davis from Butt Out was at this week’s hearing to educate the supervisors about the impact of second hand smoke on members of the LGBT community. The next hearing on the ordinance is February 22. If you’d like to attend, contact Brian at briand@ggbreathe.org.

Help gather valuable information and win valuable prizes!

If you are 18-24 years old, and LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, or intersex) you are eligible to win up to $150 for doing a survey about tobacco use. You don’t have to be a smoker or live in California to participate. This survey will help to gather important information about tobacco use and attitudes about tobacco that will help Butt Out and our national partners develop effective strategies for reducing smoking in our communities. Visit http://www.nyacyouth.org/pages.php?id=21 for more information.

As you can see, Butt Out is busy reaching out to the public and getting people activated about the tobacco problem. Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).

Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.