1094
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Jennifer Cadenas
Jun 30, 2010
The events of PrideFest are major for our community. Seeing members of our LGBT family happy, seeing Rainbow Families WI marching down the street, or witnessing those wonderful moms and dads of PFLAG - Pride brings out the best of our LGBT community for all to see. I wish my family could have enjoyed it more.
Sadly, it brings out the worst of some people. The worst of our community is the number of people, including teenagers, who smoke and drink. It is the smoking that matters most to me, because it doesn’t just impact the individual. Second-hand smoke forces itself onto others.
At PrideFest I could barely breathe - even in the “Health and Wellness” area. And I was too worried about protecting my 18-month-old baby girl from the second-hand smoke to take in much of the joy, excitement and beauty of Pride.
It was the same at the Pride Parade. It was hard to see the happy floats of LGBT folks through the nonstop clouds of other people’s habits. And again, I had to move to protect my child. This constantly having to move because of other people’s smoking is upsetting. Why should my baby girl and I, who just want to breathe to the best of our ability, have to adjust our behavior to make room for those who don’t consider the impact of their choices on the people around them?
In the perfect world that Pride often evokes – a world of equality, unity, community and justice – smokers would be more courteous. Or maybe no one would smoke at all. The impact of smoking on an individual’s health is well-known. High numbers of LGBT people smoke, and thus the impact on our community’s health is no secret. The dangers of second-hand smoke, especially to children, are also common knowledge. How can a person come up to me, say “What a cute baby,” and then light up right next to us?
Many of the PrideFest workers, in their official blue shirts, were also smoking. These people are role models for many of our young people. What does it say when our role models smoke and when they smoke in front of our children?
It makes me angry and it makes me sad. Children should never be exposed to second-hand smoke, but there were tables of people smoking in the kids-and-family area. I asked a Pride Fest worker to say something to them, but she told me she did not know what to say.
Perhaps some training is in order. Training members of our community to speak up and speak out against smoking and second-hand smoke. Training members of our community who are working at events to communicate basic ground rules. Or even setting up basic ground rules. Signs that designate some areas non-smoking would be a start. Though this would not really help navigate the entire festival, it would be nice to know that the kids’ area is away from the dangers of other people’s bad habits.
Additionally, more smokers could practice some basic, respectful and responsible behaviors in public. Here are three basic ground rules for smokers:
- Never light up when children are present. If you are smoking and children come into the area, put the cigarette out or leave the area.
- Always ask others around you if it is OK for you to smoke near them. Your choice is not yours alone. The air that you pollute is shared by all of us.
- If you are on a well-traveled public pathway, one that most other people have to take to get from point A to point B, don’t smoke. Common areas should not be taken over by one person’s second-hand smoke.
I cannot change the world, but I wish I could. I wish our community cared more about health. But until that day, I wish for the chance to enjoy PrideFest with my family free from the dangers of second-hand smoke. The rights of others to breathe unpolluted air come before the rights of those who smoke. Second-hand smoke makes one person’s behavior into everyone else’s problem. This issue isn’t hard to grasp.
