preach hatred in the face of ignorance'' By Raymond Hainey The son of the MP who piloted the bill legalising gay sex through Parliament has blasted suggestions the Island should go back in time and axe the act.

And Michael Stubbs -- the gay son of the late Paget East MP Dr. John Stubbs -- challenged gays in institutions like the Houses of Parliament, big business, law, the churches and the Bermuda Regiment to "stand up and be counted'' in a bid to end blind prejudice and bigotry.

Mr. Stubbs said: "It is easy to preach hatred in the face of ignorance. If each and every one of you came out and showed by example that there are good gay people everywhere, the people who love you -- the ones who voted for you, who trust you, and who rely on you -- will not abandon you.

"Each and every time you deny the essential truth about yourself, you are in turn promoting the venal dullards who seek your very destruction.'' Mr. Stubbs also called called for new laws to make discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation an offence under the Human Rights Act.

But Mr. Stubbs said: "However, this important advance towards equality is unlikely in a climate where people openly campaign to remove the only assurance that their neighbours -- and brothers, nephews, uncles -- will not be imprisoned for having sex with a consenting adult in the privacy of their own homes.'' And he slammed the rest of Bermudian society for failing to stand up for its minorities in the face of attacks on their human rights.

Mr. Stubbs said: "While I have come to expect ignorance on the part of political and religious bigots, it is appalling to me that the rest of the community has not reacted swiftly to condemn such shameful prejudice and discrimination.'' Mr. Stubbs spoke out after ex-Senator and Paget West MP Patricia Pamplin Gordon caused controversy by appearing to suggest the new PLP Government should look at revoking the Stubbs Act, passed in 1994.

AME churchman Leonard Santucci added fuel to the fire by warning that an offer of full UK citizenship to the Overseas Territories would mean more liberal sex laws and would be an attack on "the moral fibre'' of Bermuda. And Mr. Stubbs attacked the appointment of AME Rev. Goodwin Smith -- who campaigned against the Stubbs bill -- as chairman of the Human Rights Commission.

Mr. Stubbs said: "To make matters worse, while homosexuals have no standing before the Human Rights Commission, insofar as they are not a recognised class in this regard, the recently appointed head of this body is an avowed homophobe.'' He added that efforts to re-criminalise gay sex amounted to "rescinding Bermuda status'' for gays. Mr. Stubbs said he had "no interest in the nature of the sex lives'' of Mrs. Pamplin Gordon and Rev. Santucci.

But he pointed out: "I can only imagine their justified indignation and outrage if they were told that they would no longer be permitted to have sex, that they could lose their jobs or that they could be refused housing on the basis of the colour of their skin.'' And New York resident Mr. Stubbs warned: "As preposterous as it sounds, that is exactly what is being proposed for many Bermudians like myself.

"I am a born Bermudian and I am gay -- and, as I'm absolutely unprepared to accept second-class status, I'm for all intents and purposes a political exile of my home country.'' Mr. Stubbs added: "Notwithstanding the passage of my father's bill decriminalising homosexual acts between consenting adults in private, life is still fairly intolerable for gay Bermudians in the only home they have ever known -- many of these people have nowhere else to go.'' And Mr. Stubbs questioned Bible-bashing on the subject of gay sex, using scripture to justify prejudice.

He pointed out the Bible "that speaks of love, valour and compassion, redemption, forgiveness of sin, tolerance and charity'' was the same book used "by slave owners to justify slavery and by Afrikaners to support apartheid.'' DISCRIMINATION DIS