A new issue brief from the Center for American Progress reveals that tobacco companies have engaged in predatory marketing against the LGBT community through the sale of menthol-flavored cigarettes, the only kind of flavored cigarettes the FDA did not ban in 2009. As a result, the continued legalization of menthol cigarettes has a hugely disproportionate impact on the health of the LGBT community.

It has already been reported that smoking rates within the LGBT community are twice that of the general population. The American Lung Association documents (PDF) that gays and lesbians are more likely to smoke because of the stress of homophobia, and a study of transgender Americans shows that they also smoke at higher rates because of the stigma they experience. The direct marketing of menthol cigarettes, however, exacerbates this problem. According to a report from the National LGBTQ Young Adult Tobacco Project (PDF), 71 percent of LGBT youth who smoke cigarettes smoke menthol cigarettes.

The ultimate impact is severe. Tobacco use causes at least 30,000 gay and lesbian deaths annually (PDF). A report released this week also suggests that gay men are significantly more likely to have had cancer than straight men due in part to the elevated rates of smoking.

While the banning of menthol cigarettes — as the FDA recently recommended — would not reduce the environmental stress and stigma that often leads to LGBTs’ higher smoking rates, it would go far to minimizing the health disparities. Studies have shown that menthol cigarettes pose a more significant health risk than non-menthol cigarettes. More importantly, the effect of predatory marketing would be greatly reduced. A National Cancer Institute study (PDF) found that 39 percent of all menthol cigarette smokers would quit smoking altogether rather than switch to another brand. The number was significantly higher (47 percent) for African Americans, another group significantly targeted by menthol cigarette marketing.

If menthol cigarettes are not banned, they will continue to disproportionately impact communities that already have societal stigmas stacked against them.

Fired sports anchor Damian Goddard takes questions at his home. (Photo Credit: Rick Madonik/Toronto Star)

The world of athletics has long been a source for role models. More than ever, those role models are being held accountable for their views on the LGBT community, and unfortunately, there is a lot of negativity to be cleaned up in sports culture.

Canadian sports anchor Damian Goddard is the latest sports figure to face serious consequences for public homophobia. Sportsnet, a Canadian sports news channel, fired him this week after he used Twitter to join sports agency Uptown Sports in denouncing New York Ranger Sean Avery for coming out in support of marriage equality. Despite agreeing that Avery’s statements are “sad” and “wrong,” Goddard claims, “I’m a devout Roman Catholic. It’s not about hate at all.”

Meanwhile, North Carolina State basketball player CJ Leslie also got himself in trouble for some anti-gay tweets, including “I’m not sayin I hate gays but that’s sumthing that I would not wnt in my locker room…..” and “John Amaechi is to big to be gay…….#imjussayin.” Amaechi, who is openly gay, offered a response to both Leslie and Uptown Sports:

I have heard quite a few people say we shouldn’t be penalising [sic] people like this kid and the hockey sports agent for expressing archaic views from a first amendment rights perspective.

However, I would suggest that as the incidence of these damaging and obtuse perspectives is ever increasing, we should remind those that can’t resist spewing bigotry in 140 characters, that their right to speak exposes them to of [sic] right of balanced and educated people to rip their puny logic and hypocritical perspectives to pieces and call them out as ignorant.

A star athlete, two-time gold-medal gymnast Peter Vidmar, had to step down from an appointed leadership post on the U.S. Olympic Team this past week. Vidmar was criticized for having given $2,000 to support California’s Proposition 8, which denied the right of same-sex couples to marry there, as well as for participating in several rallies against marriage equality. Gay and lesbian athletes did not feel he could appropriately represent them at the games.

This Friday, Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell will return to the field after his two week suspension for harassing fans with homophobic gestures and statements. McDowell’s actions also earned him an undisclosed fine from Major League Baseball and mandatory “sensitivity training.”

Just last month, Kobe Bryant was also fined $100,000 for his use of a homophobic slur at a game. He and the LA Lakers have since released a PSA calling for a better world through acceptance of diversity.

Last night, Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee attached an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which openly challenges the competence of President Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen to certify that allowing gay people to serve openly in the armed forces would not undermine readiness or unit cohesion. “[T]he President has never been to war and ground combat, Admiral Mullen all due respect has never been to ground combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and Secretary Gates — a political appointee who is a very fine gentleman but has never been in ground combat in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), the sponsor of the amendment that said. His amendment would add the service chiefs to the certification process for repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Currently, the law cannot be repealed until 60 days after the president, the defense secretary and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify the U.S. military is ready for open service. The amendment passed in a vote of 33-27, with two Republicans voting against and one Democrats supporting the measure.

As Republicans spoke out in favor of the expansion of certification — implying that the addition of openly gay combat troops would be so disruptive that it would need direct certification from military leaders — Democrats wondered why the GOP was suddenly suspicious of the abilities of the nation’s military commanders:

- REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA): “Frankly, I and others in this room have more combat experience than the people who would sign off on the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

- REP. STEVEN PALAZZO (R-MS): “I’ve yet to find one American, I’ve yet to find one member of the Army National Guard, Air National Guard, Marine Corps, numerous airmen and sailors that I’ve met on my troops who support repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…. I do not think [World War II veterans] would look upon this as progress…to see their military go down in flames by implementing the DADT policy.

Watch a compilation from the hearing:

Despite recent testimony that they had not run into any major problems in training the Armed Forces for repeal, the Chiefs have generally been less eager to eliminate the policy than Gates and Mullen, and the GOP has exploited their opposition to try extend the life of the ban. Whatever their personal positions, however, all four Chiefs have said they trusted Gates to address their concerns before eliminating the policy and warned Republicans that expanding the certification process could actually undermine the chain of command.

The panel adopted two more anti-gay measures. Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s (R-MO) proposal to reapply the Defense of Marriage Act to the armed forces passed with a vote of 39-28 and Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) amendment seeking to prohibit the Navy from performing same-sex marriages on its bases passed 38-23.