My name is Paulette Goodman. I am a former national President of PFLAG, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Inc., a volunteer family support and educational organization with over 400 chapters and groups nationwide. I am a resident of Montgomery County and I represent parents' groups in Baltimore, on the Eastern Shore and in Frederick, Howard and Montgomery Counties.

I know all about discrimination and oppression. I grew up as a Jewish child in Nazi occupied France. I lost many members of my family to the Holocaust.

I am the proud mother of two fine children, one of whom is gay. In my work with PFLAG since 1983, I have come to know hundreds of equally fine gay and lesbian people—some in life long relationships no less meaningful and loving than my husband of 44 years and I shared.

I come before you today out of a strong and urgent sense of social justice.

What do parents want most for their children? Good health, happiness, satisfying jobs, and a chance for them to experience the same joys and tribulations parenthood has provided to so many.

For my gay child—and thousands of others—those joys and tribulations have not been there. Why? Because gay people have been denied one of the most fundamental human rights—the right to love, to marry and to have families of their own.

Despite the obstacles thrown in their path, however, they manage to love and remain in responsible and committed relationships. Many have children. It has been documented that gay couples are just as good parents as heterosexual couples.

But what of their children—our grandchildren? In case of emergency, medical or otherwise, only one parent in a gay couple—the biological or adoptive parent—can act on the children's behalf. The children the protection of this bill.

They need its protection because they will fall through the cracks when their moms and dads are not allowed to legalize their unions even though some churches and synagogues have blessed these same unions.

Who is responsible for these children when only one parent can legally provide the security of family health insurance and other such benefits? Should that one parent lose the ability to provide, the other "parent" has no legal right to step in because the State does not recognize their family bond.

In a December 6, 1996 article in the New York Times, regarding the State of Hawaii's ruling on same-sex marriage, Circuit Court Judge Kevin Chang is quoted as saying "that the State had failed to show that same-sex marriages would impose an undue burden on the public treasury on harm the institution of marriage on any critical government interest.." Judge Change found "little hard evidence to support the claim that same-sex marriage would somehow harm traditional marriages, but cited compelling testimony that allowing gay people to marry could actually elevate the institution of marriage by reinforcing its importance for all families, even untraditional ones." Following the Hawaii ruling, many conservative commentators, no matter who they personally felt about the issue, agreed that gay marriages would inevitably become legal.

Dear Delegates, I ask you to consider House Bill 609 with all the fairness it merits. It is the right thing to do! Please support all families, including gay families. By doing that you will be giving support to "Real Family Values", and, please, reject House bill 398. It's only purpose is to legislate loneliness and foster fear.

Support House Bill 609. Reject House Bill 398. We, our gay children, and their children, deserve no less. Thank you. Paulette Goodman, Silver Spring Maryland

This testimony was delivered before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee in 1997.