those which oppose a bill to legalise gay sex.

"We the undersigned call upon all members of the House...and the Senate to vote for the repeal of sections 177 and 179 of the Criminal Code which make it a criminal offence for homosexual men to express their sexual orientation,'' the petition said.

"We call upon our fellow Bermudians to recognise the basic tenets of human rights, including the right to privacy as defined by all international human rights organisations dedicated to encouraging respect for the dignity of all people.'' A private member's bill from the United Bermuda Party's the Hon. John Stubbs, expected to be debated next month, has sparked marches and petitions from churches and others who oppose the change.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the BHRA said the petition in support of Dr.

Stubbs' bill had circulated discreetly since the weekend and a copy of the petition would be published in The Royal Gazette with a return address on Friday.

Once the names were collected, "we intend to present it to the Premier,'' the spokesman said. "Whether we do that directly or through another Member of Parliament is not decided.'' Dr. Stubbs said yesterday he was pleased by the petition.

"When they saw the other people marching, they felt they had to do something to redress the balance,'' he said of the BHRA.

In England, meanwhile, The House of Commons voted late on Monday to lower the age of consent for sex between men to 18 from 21 but rejected an amendment that would have lowered it to 16.

As in Bermuda, the age of consent for heterosexual sex is 16 in England. Here, Dr. Stubbs said the age of consent for homosexual sex was not addressed in his bill. "I would think the age of consent would be dealt with separately, perhaps through a Government bill,'' he said.

It was "one interpretation'' that passage of his bill would set the age of consent for gay sex at 16 unless and until there was legislation stating otherwise, he said.

Dr. Stubbs said he did not feel strongly about the age of consent. "I think 18 would be acceptable, and I could support 18,'' he said.

He felt the debate in Britain "ought to help the cause here in Bermuda'', because nobody there was debating whether to recriminalise gay sex. Sex between men legalised in Britain in 1967.

In Bermuda's Criminal Code, "the two offensive clauses are clearly in breach of any proper, reasonable understanding of human rights'', Dr. Stubbs said.

At 21, Britain had the highest age of consent for gay sex in the 12-nation European Union. The age of consent for both heterosexual and homosexual activity is 15 in France, 12 in Spain and 17 in Ireland.