Smokers paradise in gay Berlin

Non-smoking lobby groups in Berlin are complaining that they have have no chance on the gay scene. They are demanding that mayor Klaus Wowereit, whose bed caught fire in a smoking related incident in June (read here), does something about it. In the past few weeks four non-smoker activists from Forum-Rauchfrei e.V. visited 19 gay bars and concluded that 90% allowed smoking. This May they reported more than 13 bars to the Tempelhof-Schöneberg Ordnungsamt, the guys who are supposed to enforce the non-smoking regulations, and nothing has changed.

In May 2009 a law was introduced that bars bigger than 75 square meters must have separate rooms for smokers and non smokers. Only a few gay bars bother to enforce the regulations. In Schöneberg Heile Welt, Hafen, Prinzknecht and Mutschmann's do. More in German on queer.de.