of the Island.

Campaigners in a group of US congregations are urging a boycott if Bermuda makes gay sex legal.

But homosexual spokesmen have played down the threat.

They said they had considered their own international boycott, but had held back because it would hurt Bermuda.

They also said the churches' fears of "public'' homosexuality were unfounded.

Last week, the International Convention of Faith Ministries said its 300 US members had been alerted to the attempt by the Hon. John Stubbs to make gay sex legal in Bermuda.

ICFM official Mr. Rob Sowell, a pastor from Virginia, warned Bermuda would not be considered a "family'' vacation Island if the Stubbs proposal went ahead.

But pro-gay group the Bermuda Human Rights Alliance said such a church boycott would have a "negligible'' impact.

Numerous overseas groups had offered to support a pro-gay boycott of Bermuda, a BHRA spokesman said.

The alliance had not ruled out such a move, which he said would be more effective because "gay-friendly'' travel agents would have a direct role.

"The attention of the international community to this current abuse would cause embarrassment to Bermuda,'' said the BHRA spokesman.

"However, we presently have no intention of initiating a boycott. Our position in the international human rights arena is so clear that change will come regardless.

"A boycott would cause harm to Bermudians, the majority of whom we believe support Dr. Stubbs' bill.'' Gay men would not suddenly "come out of the closet and be open'' if gay sex was made legal, the spokesman said.

"It has never been illegal to be a gay woman, yet no-one can make the argument that this is what is happening in the gay female population.'' Gay Bermudian Mr. Peter Carpenter, a prominent BHRA member, added his own "personal'' comment.

He said: "I have purposefully urged the gay community not to act irresponsibly by making this an international issue, on the simple grounds that I recognise the detrimental effect any negative influence on our tourism industry would have on all of us.

"Mr. Sowell's move to initiate a boycott is motivated by his wish to keep Bermuda fit for family vacationers.

"How do heterosexual couples who are unmarried, with or without children, contribute to his ideal family environment? "How does the unmarried, teenage mother fulfil his ideal? "How do married couples who indulge in the act referred to in section 177 of the criminal code fit his ideal? "I notice that he makes no reference whatsoever to these aspects of living, while he singles out one group who ask for nothing other than the right to privacy at home.'' Mr. Carpenter said the Stubbs bill would not affect public life.

There were other laws in place protecting "the safety and well-being of the community as a whole''.

He said a country that discriminated against its own people was not attractive to the "affluent, cosmopolitan'' traveller.

He added there were "many homosexuals'' contributing to the Island's tourism industry.