A leading gay rights activist has written to the British Prime Minister, criticising Bermuda's Government and religious "extremists'' on the Island.

Mr. Bill Courson, who began the current campaign to have gay sex made legal in Bermuda, wants Prime Minister John Major to step in and force a change in the Island's laws.

If Mr. Major does nothing in the next few weeks, Mr. Courson says he will take his fight to the United Nations and press for action in the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr. Courson, a 40-year-old New Jersey accountant, says he is not gay himself, just interested in human rights issues around the world.

He is in touch with the Bermuda Human Rights Alliance (BHRA), a group formed to fight locally against the rarely-used law prohibiting male homosexual sex.

The group was set up after Mr. Courson's campaign began, by about eight local professionals who want to stay anonymous.

Mr. Courson said yesterday: "It's growing increasingly apparent to me that the Government of Bermuda really is not interested in taking a leadership position on this issue.

"I think the time has come when the UK Government has to be pressed for its response.'' Mr. Courson said he thought the UK would move as it did when the Isle of Man, off north-west Britain, refused to change its anti-gay law.

The UK promised to change the law itself and the Isle of Man backed down, said Mr. Courson.

"It's my own belief that the UK will act and will act shortly, if it becomes evident to them, as it has to me, that the Bermuda Government will do nothing whatsoever.'' Mr. Courson said he was surprised Bermudian politicians did not want to display the Island's sophistication to the world and act autonomously.

And he was disappointed at PLP leader Mr. Freddie Wade's statement that Opposition MPs would probably have a free vote on the issue.

In his letter Mr. Courson calls on Mr. Major to make sure the "offensive and illegal'' gay sex law is scrapped so Bermuda falls in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.

"Bermuda's Government may feel itself in some fashion dependent on the continued goodwill of an extremist religious element present on the Island,'' Mr. Courson writes.

Government may also feel the issue is not one of legal obligation, says Mr.

Courson. Or politicians might be ignoring the obligation for political reasons.

Mr. Courson also criticises Bermuda Bar Association president Mr. John Riihiluoma for saying the issue is not really a legal one.

The US activist told The Royal Gazette he would wait a couple of months at the most before taking action on human rights and discrimination grounds at the UN.