Do people who choose to smoke cigarettes have a right to smoke? Are there consequences for the rest of us when others choose to light up and if so, what are they? The answers to those questions have sparked an anti smoking campaign in many states which have caused legislators to pass anti-smoking laws which restrict or prohibit smoking in public places. Yes, there are indeed consequences when others choose to smoke. They get cancer, and prior to their death, run up large medical bills. Those large bills are left for grieving family members to pay or, if the deceased had insurance, their high expenses increase the cost for the rest of us, so that purchasing private health insurance is way out of reach for many people.

But it doesn’t stop there. Smokers “share” their smoke with others, causing innocent people to also get cancer and die. Ultimately, society pays a very high cost for smokers enjoying their “right” to smoke. Smokers can enjoy their right to smoke as long as it does not infringe on others’ rights. But as I have shown, it does indeed infringe on the rest of us both physically and financially.

As we examine the Gay and Lesbian communities’ assertion that they should have the right to be recognized in a legal manner the same way other groups are recognized legally, we need to first ask ourselves if their “right” to be gay infringes on our rights. They say it does not, but let’s examine the issue a little closer. Because of the nature of the way their sexual relationships are conducted, they are a high risk group for AIDS. Just as the smokers’ high medical costs increased our insurance costs, AIDS does the same thing. And just as innocent people die as a result of passive smoke, many innocents have also contracted AIDS and died as a result of blood infusions, dental procedures, or heterosexual relations with an unfaithful spouse who swings both ways.

But there is a bigger issue than the AIDS epidemic here. Because now the Gay and Lesbian community want us to grant them the “right” to be married the same as men and women who love one another do. After all, it doesn’t hurt us does it? Or does it?

In Massachusetts where Gay marriage has already become accepted under the law, family and religious rights have already begun to be trampled as a result. Many families were particularly upset when their kindergardeners and first graders came home with a “diversity bag” with books and other literature about Gay and Lesbian lifestyles. One particular set of parents that I heard about, went to their child’s school and requested the school respect the parents right to have “parental notification” when such topics were going to be discussed in the classroom (much the way the schools are required to handle sex ed) so that they could make sure their child was not part of that discussion. The school refused because same sex marriage and relationships was legal and therefore it could be taught openly in the public schools without school administrators or teachers being required to notify parents. The parents insisted that they had their rights too, and the father said that he would not budge from the school office until the school officials would agree to parental notification. The school administrators responded by calling the police, who handcuffed him and let him spend the night in jail.

The Gay and Lesbian agenda does indeed infringe on the rights of traditional American families. Take the case of the Catholic Adoption Agency who is now required by Massachusetts law to allow Gay and Lesbian couples adopt through their agency even though to do so violates their religious doctrine and principles. Rather than comply with this requirement, they were forced to shut down an agency that provided a valuable and needed service in the state. Prior to its demise, the agency was renowned for the services it provided and the manner in which they served the communities where they had installed themselves. All of this because of the narcissictic and selfish desire of the Gay and Lesbian community to force their will on us rather than to employ gaining their benefits through civil unions. The Gays and Lesbians claim that heterosexuals are not tolerant of them. And yet they are less tolerant of us than we are of them.

I am disturbed by the recent militant attitudes, and strident words and actions coming from those in the Gay and Lesbian community in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8. They are anxious to stomp on our rights in order to gain what they believe should be theirs. Is it possible for those with a more reasonable voice to step forward and take a more conciliatory tone and acknowledge the possibility that everyone’s problems could be solved with Civil Unions? Because I know one thing is for certain. Their right to engage in their relationships does not trump my rights as a husband and father and the rights of my family.