Police, local authorities and a charity are joining forces to stamp out homophobic bullying at Oxfordshire schools.

They want to help gay youngsters in the region after a study revealed pupils are more likely to be the victim of homophobic attacks at school than elsewhere.

Martin Dickson, chairman of the Homophobia Awareness Liaison Team (Halt), a partnership of police, local authorities and the Terrence Higgins Trust, the sexual health charity for gay men, said: "I dealt with a person in a school who was being bullied.

"He tried to address it and teachers told him to get used to it because he would have to put up with it for the rest of his life.

"A police schools officer got involved and everyone had to accept that however common this homophobic abuse was, it wasn't acceptable. Everyone with power in the situation had to do something to stop it."

Mr Dickson was speaking after Oxford University researcher Somjen Frazer presented the findings of her study into homophobic hate crime in Oxfordshire.

The report, published on Wednesday revealed that 90 per cent of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the region have suffered abuse but not reported it.

Thames Valley Police officers are trained to deal with homophobic crime and have urged victims to report incidents to them.

Miss Frazer's study stated: "Young people were more likely to have experienced harassment or bullying and having objects thrown at them.

"They were also more likely to have experienced verbal abuse within the last three years.

"It appears that this is partly because they spend time in schools, which are proportionately less safe for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people than most other environments.

"Although bullying may affect many young people, it has a particularly serious effect on minorities.

"Those pupils have particular barriers to accessing assistance, and many teachers are not confident in addressing their issues."

Halt held a meeting with staff at Oxford's Cheney and St Gregory the Great schools, asking what could be done about the problem.

Laetisia Staniforth, civilian community and race relations officer, said: "We take the issue very seriously.

"We want to come up with a strategy but we are not sure what that will be.

"At the moment posters have been put up and we're looking at cards, on which children can report homophobic abuse.

Father Martin Flatman, chairman of governors at St Gregory the Great School, said: "We have a strict behavioural policy which means any bullying or phobic behaviour is totally against our ethos."