A US Christian ministry has published a homophobic guide for parents to teach their children about gays.

Mission: America’s hate-filled pamphlet called ‘Questions and Answers for Kids About Homosexuality’ is intended as an easy guide for parents struggling to explain to their older grade school or middle school children what being ‘gay’ means.

Despite rightly suggesting the word ‘gay’ should not be used as an insult, it quickly goes on to insist that homosexuality is ‘wrong’ and a ‘sin’.

‘Most cultures long ago decided this was very wrong. And they made rules against

it, for a lot of good reasons,’ the ministry’s leader Linda Harvey writes.

‘First of all, two men can never create their own child. Neither can two women. And two men kissing – well, it just doesn’t seem right. That’s because it isn’t.’

It goes on to suggest parents explain how ‘homosexual feelings’ are a sin and God wasn’t pleased when some people didn’t listen to him about it.

More worrying is the advice given on what kids should say to someone being bullied because of their sexuality.

Harvey wrote: ‘If the bully uses bad words or makes up false stories that someone is “gay,” or calls a boy names like “sissy,” or worse, that’s horrible. Always speak up and help someone who is being bullied.

‘But it’s not right to tell someone that being homosexual is okay. The person may be feeling sad because of being bullied, but never try to make him or feel better by saying “gay” is okay.

‘Kids who are overweight are sometimes bullied, too. And we might want to make that person feel better. But it would be a mistake to say that overeating is a good thing, right?

‘So tell your friends, in a nice way, that no one needs to be “gay” or pretend to be the other gender. It’s not the right thing to do.

‘It is important to know the truth and stand up for it.’

Mission: America, which was branded a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is based in Columbus, Ohio, and describes its purpose as covering the ‘latest cultural and social trends in our country and what they might mean for Christians.’

In 2006, it helped launch a School Risk Audit program with other far right Christian groups to assess what it sees as schools’ promotion of homosexuality, the criteria of which include anti-bullying programs that include acceptance of different sexual orientations and non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation.

