The widow of the man behind the legalisation of gay sex in Bermuda has pleaded with critics of the law not to campaign for a rethink.

And to make homosexual acts criminal offences again would make Bermuda the "laughing stock of the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe'' where they were decriminalised many years ago, she said.

In a letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette Robin Stubbs said she was "appalled and distressed'' to hear comments made by Senator Patricia Gordon Pamplin (UBP) that she would be pleased if the legalisation was canned.

Before his death Ms Stubbs' husband, Dr. John Stubbs, presented a Private Member's Bill to the House of Assembly in 1994 and it was so controversial each member voted his or her conscience rather than along party lines.

Last week, Sen. Gordon Pamplin called on the Progressive Labour Party to make their position clear regarding the bill and state whether it would be reconsidered now they had gained power.

She said comments made by a senior newly-appointed Immigration Board member recently in a public forum had given her the impression there was a good chance the Government would reconsider the Stubbs amendment.

Outside the Senate she said she would be pleased if the Government was to rethink and cancel it. But Ms Stubbs said that move would be a "regressive step for Bermuda''.

"Dr. John Stubbs worked for many months in preparation before bringing to the House of Assembly his Private Members Bill,'' she wrote in her letter.

"In his introduction of the bill he proved that being homosexual is not a choice but a pre-existing biological condition.

"And to discriminate against these men and women is against our code of human rights.

"Indeed we were not, prior to the passage of the bill, making it an offence for women to practice homosexual acts and this in itself was discriminatory.'' She said her husband had sought to "rectify this archaic situation''.

"The bill was passed after about eight hours of debate and there was much rejoicing by many, many people of Bermuda.

"Dr. Stubbs remarked later that in his 26 years in Parliament he had not witnessed cheering and applause from the gallery as there was on that night.'' And since then many people in Bermuda had commended the bill and called it "possibly the finest legacy he left to this country'', she wrote.

Ms Stubbs thanked Sen. Calvin Smith (PLP) and Legislative Affairs Minister Lois Browne Evans for making their public stance against any rethink of the bill in The Royal Gazette .

See Letters to the Editor page in today's paper