On one of my college entrance exams, one I bombed and one I aced, I had to write an essay about smoking in public.  My bright pink lungs and I took the side of the smoker.  It's my right to grab someone by the neck, push them up against a wall, take a big long drag, and then purposefully exhale as they inhale.  I have a right to share a cigarette with strangers.  I was tiny and I didn't smoke so it wasn't a threat of violence; it was irony.  (I just made that all up - well, the part about acing something.)

im seeing portions of the same argument as to why gay marriage shouldnt be allowed. be advised by the way, i dont smoke. i just have an affinity for  arguing and debating, and what better then personal freedoms? first, id like to point out that we all have a sticky end awaiting us, regardless if it's a heartattack, lung cancer, overeating, or through one's sleep, our bodies will be turned to dust in the end. show me instances in which people were forced to endure tobacco smoke back when it was allowed to indulge one's self in such a manner in a public place. non smokers who went to restaraunts who allowed smoking, usually knew the type of environment that they were in and still didnt mind. and you cant exactly throw in my face that they didnt have much choice, because i remember quite a few restaraunts who didnt allow smoking. so if we were to bring tht back again, and keep a nice distance of space between smokers and non smokers, the freedoms and rights of both can be respected. that is where I stand, i believe there should be compromise. just in the same sense with gay marriage, you dont want see two male in a public place holding hands with wedding bands, but i highly doubt either men would like to see you eating your boyfriend's/ girlfriend's face. but both believe that engagement in these acts is a personal right, so therefore you cannot have one with out the other. you cannot have life without death, brightness without darkness, god without satan. therefore, there must be compromise so that the two can coexist peacefully.

I stand by my position that smokers do not have any right to smoke other than a place that they might find that is away from any other creatures who do not want to be affected by the smoke. Just because someone has an addiction, there is no inherent right for them to impose the ill effects of that addiction on others, nor should any business owner be forced to provide a place at their expense for addicts to feed their addiction.  Despite the "pleasure" of smoking as print and television ads once touted, it is a deadly addiction. Let's call it what it is. If anyone has any "rights" in this issue, it is the non-smokers, to not have the smell and deadly effects of cigarette smoke, forced upon them. Smokers should consider themselves fortunate that there are employers who indulge them in their habit, to the point of conceding them a place to smoke, and to look the other way, as these smokers spend as much as an hour or an hour and a half, on company time, standing out in the parking garage, sometimes shivering their a**** off or sweating in the summer sun, feeding an addiction. That is not unnoticed, by those who would be reprimanded for telling the boss that they would like an hour and a half of on the clock time each day, to spend gaming, or maybe walking out in the fresh air and relaxing.

ive only a little bit of time so ill be brief. the smoking vs gay marriage concept was connected through irony. the point i have here is that both are personal freedoms and rights and such, should not be illegalized by the government. ill give you the fact that anyone who doesnt want to be around tobacco smoke has the right not to do so and that right should be respected. however, a smoker's rights should be respected as well. many work places now offer the oppurnunity to smoke on an outside patio, why shouldnt restaraunts offer the same? what's more, wht is so wrong with smoking and non smoking? people, who want to have a smoke after a meal can do so and dont even have to go outside to do so, should be a freedom. and once again as such, owners of public places should make the offer for them to do so.

What was the gay vs smoking comparison used for? Why didn't you use lepers and junkies? Or bulimics and bipolars? I fail to see any connection whatsoever in your two groups of folks you have conveniently chosen to link. Were I to venture a wild guess, I would say you were a "victimized" smoker trying a hitch a piggyback ride with a segment of society, who while are also maligned, are truly oppressed and wrongfully discriminated against, in the hopes you get some token alignment and sympathy for your plight from them. Don't hold your breath(no pun intended).

Were I to guess again, I would say that 75% of homosexuals did not make the choice to be so, and the other 25% who did, are no less wronged in their being discriminated against.  To each, his or her own. Nobody, even God, has the right to tell another person to whom they may be attracted, or may fall in love with. That is all I feel I need to say about that.

As far as your choice of photos to accompany this post, I saw, while fortunate enough to be in their company, a couple of beautiful young ladies, who care deeply for one another, sharing a playful warm hug/embrace yesterday, that I think would have made a much better choice to use here.

Now let me tell you about smoking continuously tobacco throughout each day by a person.  That is an addiction. The one who starts it, chose to start it for whatever reason. It has been established that nicotine is a narcotic drug, and that when inhaled by humans, either directly or in a second manner, it is a carcinogen that can and will cause lung cancer and death. Okay, let me give you a little slack now. Let me say that I agree that smoking is your personal right. That is where your rights stop. You do not have the right to do it ANYWHERE,except in the privacy of your home or that of another smoker who allows it,  a place so remote as that no other human who chooses not to smoke, may inadvertently inhale even a minute amount of the smoke from your cigarette, or from one of the other nineteen or thirty nine you will likely smoke in any given day. just because the tobacco giants managed to lure you in to using their product, and in so doing, become addicted to it. You do not have even the tiniest right to expose any other person to your smoke, and potentially endanger their life. Simple as that. If you are not a tobacco addict, then sorry about that chief......this diatribe is intended for your girlfriend or mom that is. Now that said, I started smoking well before I was born, and continued well into childhood and young adolescence, and got my driver's license, and subsequent being a captive to two smokers when I needed a ride somewhere. In my womb era, it wasn't uncommon for a mom (and/or the doctor) to smoke during and after prenatal examinations, so you see, I am emminiently qualified and right and even obligated to speak of the dangers of a smoking habit.

Truth be known, probably some of what we inhale from a beach bonfire has carcinogens in it. I actually enjoy sitting around with my friend the Loon, as he has one of his couple daily cigars in the yard. I don't at all mind the occasional scent of a cigar burning there, or of my old friend Professor Bill Thompson's periodic cherry blend pipe smoke. I choose to be in their private company while they are smoking. They in that setting, are harming nobody but themselves, and possibly those of us who choose to be there. They and we have that right, but in public, it is nobody's right, nor should it ever be.

And where exactly did you get that the foes and opponents of gay marriage are very well smokers and the supporters of gay marriage oppose smoking in nearly every public place? If this is some poll you read where is the link?