A TEACHER is pushing for schools to have zero tolerance on homophobia by coming out to pupils at an assembly.

Pam Stallard, 30, and her colleague Luke Burgess held a special talk with pupils last month to teach them why such prejudice is unacceptable.

Ms Stallard, head of languages at Longhill High School in Falmer Road, Rottingdean, said they came out to show the LGBT community was no different from anybody else.

She said: “The reason we held the assembly was because one student was saying homophobic comments. Luke told the student it was not OK.

“We had a talk and thought we should hold an assembly to educate pupils homophobia should not be tolerated.

“We taught them casual use of words like ‘queer’ or saying ‘gay’ to describe something negative is very offensive.

“The words are not funny. They are not a joke or banter.

“There have been small incidents of homophobic attitudes and we want to put a final stop to it.”

Ms Stallard said she also took this stance to support pupils who identified as LGBT.

She said: “Over the last couple of years students have come out.

“If they know staff members who define themselves as LGBT it provides them with a safe space.

“I want them to be able to walk into school and know they are accepted and they can be themselves.

“Sometimes students don’t get a chance to talk to an LGBT person.

“However, they see a lot of LGBT people on TV shows but sometimes they’re homophobic.

“By coming out, it’s a way to show students LGBT people are just like everybody else. A teacher should also encourage students to develop better understanding of the world.

“However, although we have come out we still think there should be a limit.

“For example we wouldn’t go to the extent of telling students what we got up to on the weekend because our main aim is to improve understanding.”

Ms Stallard said she was criticised on social media for coming out but added: “Of course there were critics, but a majority supported us, including parents.

“We have made the right decision.

“The school has been so supportive of me in the past four years, and I cannot thank them enough.”

The school assembly was published on YouTube titled “Longhill LGBT”.

Ms Stallard and Mr Burgess were invited to the Good Morning Britain show on Thursday to talk about why they came out to pupils.

Viewers took to social media to support the pair. However, their coming out was panned by Campaign For Real Education chairwoman Katie Ivens.

Ms Ivens said homophobia was a “fashionable issue” and teachers should keep their private lives hidden from students.

She added teachers should focus on teaching core subjects.

However Ms Ivens was criticised on social media, where some Twitter users called her a “dinosaur”.