So what should teachers do? It's a question that draws a mixed response, even among those writing for the same newspaper. "This should be addressed in the same way racial abuse would be treated: by explicitly making it clear that, at every level of the school, homophobic language, and in particular the use of gay as a casual negative, is unacceptable," writes Nathanael Arnott-Davies on The Guardian's website.
But columnist Zoe Williams, writing in the main paper, takes a different tack. When schoolchildren use gay as an insult "they aren't necessarily attacking one another's sexuality, they are just launching random acts of aggression because it's what children do", she argues, adding that creating a taboo around a word will not stop young people using it. She concludes: "Talking about 'endemic homophobia' undermines the adult voice by making it ridiculous, and dignifying the bullying language by failing to see how ludicrous it is."
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