A national campaign by Stonewall to tackle homophobic language in schools is being supported by Bury Council.

The campaign comes in response to research showing that 99 per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual young people hear phrases such as “that’s so gay” or “you’re so gay”’ in school, and 84 per cent are distressed when they hear this language.

The hard-hitting new campaign, during Anti-Bullying Week, is fronted by Will Young and supported by Mumsnet.

Posters have been sent to schools across Britain stating clearly “Gay. Let’s Get the Meaning Straight”.

The posters are accomp-anied by new guidance for pupils and teachers to enable them to challenge the derogatory use of the word “gay”.

Cllr Trevor Holt, Bury Council’s equalities spokes-man, said: “We’re doing a lot of work with schools to tackle all forms of bullying and harass-ment. This use of the word “gay” is a particular prob-lem with young people, so we have held training days for high school pupils and staff to raise awareness of homophobic language and foster better understanding and relationships.”

Bury Council is a Stonewall Diversity Champ-ion and is currently ranked 37th in the Workplace Equality Index of top employers.

Mumsnet and Stonewall are asking individuals to write to or tweet their local schools as well as challenging their own children’s use of homo-phobic language.

Individuals can get involved by visiting stonewall.org.uk/ABW13, following @stonewalluk on Twitter or liking the StonewallUK Facebook page. Join the conversation by also using #GetOverIt