No bars, restaurants or gathering places are specifically geared toward the small population of gays and lesbians in Howard County.
But companionship is found in the monthly meetings of the Howard County chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the touchstone of support and friendship for the local gay community.
“It?s just one huge family,” said Colette Roberts, chapter chairwoman of PFLAG and the mother of a lesbian.
“We care about each other, and we don?t believe in discrimination.”
No official estimate is available for the number of gays and lesbians living in Howard County.
However, the U.S. census counts the number of households in the county with unmarried partners who are of the same sex.
The 2000 census tallied 227 county households with male partners who live together, and 269 households with female partners.
Together, they make up about 5.5 percent of households in the county, which is slightly less than the national average of 5.63 percent.
PFLAG?s advocacy committee has made gains for gay rights in the county. In 2005, the committee obtained domestic-partner benefits in the Howard County government, the Howard County Board of Education, Howard Community College and the Columbia Association.
“There is a blending of the population. We get up in the morning and do our jobs, we shop and go to the same stores,” said Steven Charing, a Clarksville resident and head of the advocacy steering committee for PFLAG.
“We are not really any different.”
The Howard County chapter of PFLAG meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center.
About the youth group
The Rainbow Youth Alliance youth support group of the Howard County chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays meets twice a month.
“Some people feel that other people only see them as being gay or lesbian. We work through that by not just talking about all the gay stuff,” said Perryn Morris, a Rainbow Youth Alliance member from Ellicott City.
“We talk about things that are relevant to being regular teens, not just gay teens,”
The youth group will have a talent show at 7:30 p.m. June 13 at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center on Cradlerock Way in Columbia.
