relations between gays is set to be debated today in the House of Assembly.

Arguments for and against the bill could turn even more fervent with word that the proposed age of consent for gay sex has been set at 16.

Dr. Stubbs said it would not surprise him if there was opposition to the age.

However, he would be producing authorities to back-up the decision.

Confirming he had fully recovered from recent illness to take his Bill to the floor of the House, Dr. Stubbs said: "I'm in fine fettle.

"(The debate) will go ahead. And I am reasonably confident the Bill will pass if logic and human decency prevail.'' A political source predicted the Stubbs bill would pass, giving ranges of 22-17 to 26-13.

Anti-gay Christian Coalition members will reportedly be out in force in the House's public gallery to protest passage of the Bill.

Coalition spokesman Mr. Ouemonde Brangman and members are refusing to comment to The Royal Gazette following a report the group had called for a local AIDS charity to be shunned because of alleged homosexual connections.

Spokesman for the pro-gay Human Rights Alliance Mr. Peter Carpenter said he and other members would also be present in the gallery to hear the debate.

Government business of the day and an Opposition motion to discuss a taxi industry report are expected to be carried over to allow for a full day's debate.

Dr. Stubbs said the delay in the second reading had been to "polish and re-polish'' the bill.

He had not been advised of any more proposed amendments, he added.

The Stubbs bill, first tabled in early February and amended several times, proposes to remove sections 177 and 179 from the Bermuda Criminal Code.

Section 177 makes "attempted buggery'' and "buggery'' involving men or women a punishable offence carrying maximum prison terms of five to ten years.

Section 179 makes "gross indecency'' between men illegal whether it is in public or private. And "procuring'' someone to commit such an offence is also illegal and punishable by a two-year prison sentence.

MPs are expected to be able to vote freely on the issue without threat of party discipline.

Locally-known New Jersey gay rights campaigner Mr. William Courson yesterday made a final pitch for passage of the Stubbs Bill, sending out letters to Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advising them of a recent ruling by the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations that Australia had breached certain provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by allowing Tasmania to continue making homosexual conduct illegal.