CAMPAIGNERS slammed a homophobic US pastor who took to TV studios to berate musician Vicky Beeching after she came out as gay.

Church minister and Christian rock star Ms Beeching received widespread support after she disclosed her lesbianism in a newspaper interview. She said she had vowed to come out after suffering an auto-immune disease from the stress of keeping her sexuality a secret.

But on Channel 4 News on Thursday night, she was paired with anti-gay pastor Scott Lively, who told her she had “given in to a lie.”

Stonewall spokesman Richard Lane said: “Scott Lively is a clear demonstration of the huge amount of work left to do to eradicate discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

“Lively has proudly boasted about his work to introduce draconian anti-gay Bills in Uganda and Russia. Thankfully, with role models like Vicky Beeching, young people will know that you can be gay and practise your faith. That’s a truly inspirational message.”