The schools where pupils aged four learn about gay lifestyle

Pupils are being invited to act the parts of gay characters during after-school arts clubs as well as in some literacy and drama lessons.

In one primary school, youngsters put on puppet shows of the Cinderella story featuring male Cinderellas. Other primaries are inviting in touring theatre companies which stage plays featuring same-sex parents.

Books being introduced to lessons include King & King, a fairy tale featuring a prince who turns down three princesses before falling in love with one of their brothers.

In another primary school, a teacher discussed his civil partnership ceremony with the pupils.

Fourteen primary schools are already taking part in the £600,000 project aimed at familiarising children with gay and lesbian relationships.

The research team behind the project intends to post the findings on national websites to help all schools adopt the same techniques.

It claims that introducing such books and activities will help schools fulfil their duties under new gay rights laws which came into force last month.

The researchers say pupils must be taught about same-sex relationships from an early age to combat playground bullying of gay pupils. But parents' leaders warned that primary school children were too young to learn about such issues.

Margaret Morrissey, spokesman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: "We are putting issues on young shoulders that actually don't need to be there.

"Is this really necessary or appropriate for such young children? Even if they appear to be understanding they may not be.

"This may be OK in the later years of secondary school but to try to deal with this in primary is really not on. The concern is parents have no choice when schools decide to do these things.

"If a school does decide to do this, it is absolutely essential it is done with the knowledge and agreement of all parents."

Details of the initiative will spelled out at a conference on sex education at London's Institute of Education today.

The No Outsiders project, which has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, is run by Sunderland University jointly with Exeter University and the institute.

It has been launched in 14 schools across the North-East, the South-West, London and the Midlands.

Dr Elizabeth Atkinson, reader in social and educational inquiry at Sunderland University, said: "The primary school is often thought of as a place of safety and innocence - and attempts to address what are seen as 'adult' issues are sometimes-seen as intrusions into or threats to this safety zone."

But she said such attitudes led to pupils viewing homosexuality as 'taboo' and bred homophobic bullying.

Books used in the project include Spacegirl Pukes, whose main character has two mothers, mummy Loula and mummy Neenee.

Another, called And Tango Makes Three, features two male penguins who fall in love at a New York zoo.