A ROW has broken out after a gay-rights charity was asked by the Church of England to assist its work tackling homophobic bullying in schools.

The Archbishop of Canterbury announced in the summer that the Church would create resources to help church schools stamp out such bullying. The connection with the Stonewall charity was mentioned by the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard, at General Synod on Monday of last week.

A statement on the Wednesday from Anglican Mainstream condemned the decision and said it was "astonishing" that the Church was collaborating with the charity. It said: "Stonewall's schools programme, which involves teaching children to regard different sexualities positively, may tacitly open a door to young people for sexual experimentation which is potentially unsafe." Changing Attitude described the Mainstream statement as "disgraceful" and "deeply homophobic".