Pridefully Speaking

Indianapolis has had a no smoking law on the book for a few years, but it really only affected restaurants. On top of that, if a bar serves food, they could opt to not serve the under 18 crowd so that they could continue to be a smoking establishment.

For those of us who are non-smokers, this is just something we’ve had to deal with. Smokers always tend to fall back on it being their right to smoke, and if non-smokers do not want to breathe it they can go elsewhere, which to me is a bit disingenuous, because where exactly are we going go? It is just one of those catch-22 situations, which is only exacerbated by the fact that Louisville, which is in the tobacco belt and 90 minutes away managed to go smoke free well over a year ago, and it seems, anywhere you travel, those cities are going the same way.

Without making this an argument for or against smoking, the general consensus was that no gay bar in town was going to go smoke free until it was mandated by law. Talbott Street attempted to do so, but there were some strategically placed complaining which made them to change direction and just make the Legend’s Drag Bar smoke free, which don’t get me wrong was great because that is a low ceiling room that really got pretty smokey, but it still wasn’t the whole bar. Then Greg’s started to survey the clientele on whether they should limit smoking to the back patio. The survey came back an overwhelming majority supporting the smoking limitations. Once Greg’s announced they were going smoke free on August 1st, then Talbott Street quickly followed, and we have been enjoying the clean air at both for almost a month now.

It was with great surprise that Metro announced that they would be going smoke free on October 1st. I always figured since they were a restaurant and more of a sit down bar type establishment, they would be one that would totally wait until there was a law. I’m happy to have been proven wrong. It really does take balls for them to do this, almost more than Greg’s and Talbott, because they still have competition from restaurants that allow smoking like Olly’s, English Ivy’s, and The Varsity, but I truly commend them for taking the leap.

Greg’s, Talbott, and Metro should all be celebrated for taking a limited smoking stance. We all know the health hazards of smoking, and while it becomes muddy to start taking away the rights people have over their bodies, I believe this was the right thing to do for the good of the community.