governments with complaints about the Island's laws against gay male sex.

They are writing to the Premier, the Governor and the British Foreign Secretary, demanding that the laws be scrapped.

Bermuda must be brought into line with "international standards of human rights'', the activists say.

They have been mobilised by the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (ILGHRC) in San Francisco.

Local gay action group the Bermuda Human Rights Alliance (BHRA) is backing the letter-writing campaign.

Letters have gone out from across America, and from countries including Spain and Mexico.

A BHRA spokesman said the ILGHRC had sent out thousands of appeals to human rights groups, politicians and other supporters, asking them to write letters.

Meanwhile, the BHRA is carrying out an "education'' drive, hoping to correct "myths'' about gay people.

It is sending information packs to Bermudian MPs and heads of religious groups in preparation for a possible vote in Parliament on whether to change the law.

Government MP the Hon. John Stubbs is hoping to organise a House of Assembly vote on the issue.

He wants Government to agree that the vote be taken by secret ballot. The BHRA spokesman said the group was encouraged by Dr. Stubbs' efforts.

"But we're not going to get over-confident. It's not over until it's over.

"We're just taking it one day at a time. At the moment we want to get the facts out.'' The information packs contain statistics on child molesting. These figures showed most offences were committed against girls by heterosexual "straight'' men, the BHRA spokesman said.

The packs also pointed out that the two-parent family was in a minority in Bermuda, he added.

The BHRA material aimed to correct the myth that all gay people were promiscuous, the spokesman said.

The group also disputes recent surveys that suggest only one percent of men are gay.

A British newspaper reported last week that a new survey had found that 1.1 percent of men, one in 90, had taken a male partner in the past year.

It said 3.5 percent of men had had a male partner at some stage of their lives and 6.1 percent had had a "homosexual experience''.

A total of 3.4 percent of women in the survey, by the independent Social Community Planning and Research institute, said they had had a homosexual experience, and 1.7 percent had had a lesbian sexual partner.

The BHRA believes such surveys are inaccurate. The spokesman said: "We're constantly plagued by the one-percent myth. "The Kinsey report in 1948 estimated the figure was 10 percent. Continuing Kinsey studies continue to support that.''