LOS ANGELES, July 14 (AFP) - About 500 gay and lesbian Christians protested after visas were denied to HIV-positive Australians who wanted to attend a gay church conference here.

Two delegates from Australia were detained before they boarded a plane bound for the United States, according to a conference organizer.

"We are the only country who will not permit people with HIV and AIDS to come into the country," said Reverend Troy Perry, who founded the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches 30 years ago.

The MCC, the world's largest Christian denomination for gays and lesbians, is holding its general conference this week here in Los Angeles.

Protesting outside the federal building where the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is housed, demonstrators carried signs reading "The Body of Christ Has AIDS" as they prayed and sang hymns under police watch.

The INS bars people with some communicable diseases, including the virus that causes AIDS, from coming to the United States.

The INS had no immediate comment about the Australians. But Perry said, "This is a crazy policy. HIV is not easy to catch."

Last week, an HIV-positive man from Canada was denied a visa to go to New York for gay pride festivities, he added.

Five black South Africans attending the conference were initially denied visas, while whites from that country had no trouble getting into the United States, Perry said.

It was only after civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson intervened that the black South Africans were granted visas.

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