The raging gay sex row is expected to end in Parliament today as MPs grapple with the question in deciding the fate of the controversial Stubbs Bill.

If it is passed, will gays start "coming out of the closet'', displaying affection for one another openly? And if it is defeated, will there be serious health implications because gays will continue to be afraid to admit details of their sex lives? These are some of the concerns of opponents and supporters of UBP backbencher the Hon. John Stubbs' bill to legalise gay sexual relations.

Anti-gay Christians say homosexuality is "an offence against morality''.

But the pro-gay Human Rights Alliance says that making gay sex a crime is "a contradiction of Government's own democratic foundations''.

The most vocal opponent of the Stubbs Bill, the Christian Coalition, conducted Island-wide prayer vigils and frenzied marches on Parliament to stop passage of the bill.

They prayed out loud for God to guide MPs in making "the right'' decision.

The Coalition was also praying for all those "trapped in that sin of immortality'', declared Rev. Dr. Vernon Lambe of the First Church of God at the last march.

Marchers have stated they believed homosexuality was indecent and against the teachings of the bible.

One marcher said: "I think homosexuals should keep their sexual preference in the closet as they have done all this time.'' Coalition officials yesterday refused to discuss their views any further with The Royal Gazette after a report they had urged residents to shun an AIDS charity because it might have gay connections.

But Mr. Peter Carpenter, who admits he is gay and is the spokesman for the Alliance, spoke freely of his hope the bill will be passed.

It was a democratic, not a sexual issue, he said.

"We are not seeking special rights at all. We are seeking acknowledgement of exactly the same rights people already have and that we are currently denied -- specifically the right to privacy in our own homes.'' Mr. Carpenter said he had come to the conclusion it was not him and other gays who who were "a threat'' to society. "It's society that's abusing me,'' he said.

Commenting on secretly harboured fears of many opponents of the bill -- that its passage will cause public displays of affection between gays, he said: "My behaviour in public will not change in any way from what it already is.

My expressions of intimacy ... are actions I prefer to keep private.'' And on Coalition claims the bible outlaws homosexuality, he said, "The God I believe in made me precisely the person I am now.'' The Coalition's stance had "threatened no one but their own position and credibility'', he believed.

Human rights activist Ms Clare Hatcher said her view on the issue was simple: "We are talking about the basic human right of privacy.'' And Bermuda's laws were currently denying homosexual people that right. Fresh support for the Stubbs Bill came at the eleventh hour yesterday from the Washington DC-based group Integrity, the international lesbian and gay justice ministry in the Anglican community.

Spokesman Mr. Edgar Byham said the position of Coalition member churches was against that of many US churches, including the Anglican Church.

Polls showed practising Christians in the United States supported equal rights for gays by "strong majorities'', he said.

In a letter to The Royal Gazette , he said he was "saddened by the continuing existence of laws which discriminate against persons because of their sexual orientation''.

A consensus was emerging worldwide among the Anglican community in support of gay rights.