CRAIG Campbell recreated a picture of a Belinda Carlisle album cover, featuring him, for a laugh.

But when students saw the picture of their gay teacher on Facebook, they refused to do work assigned by him.

Craig Campbell told South Coast Baptist College, near Perth, that he was in a same-sex relationship.

Then he was removed from the school’s relief teacher roster.

Now he has spoken out about his treatment, saying what started as a joke has become no laughing matter, and raising awareness of laws which allow church schools to dismiss employees based on their beliefs.

Craig had been teaching at the school for about two years — and had previously been a student there.

He told ABC’s 7.30 the trouble started when he posted the mocked-up album cover recreation of him straddling a chair on a chair, and posted it on his Facebook page.

“A couple of students thought it was funny, and shared it,” he said.

“It’s nothing that’s not happened to me before. Sometimes kids find your Facebook profile picture.”

But then a student in class mocked him for being gay.

“He was laughing at me and then I was trying to get him to do his work and he said to me, ‘I’m not going to be taking orders from a gay teacher,’” he said.

“I said, ‘OK, you need to leave then.’”

The school claimed that Mr Campbell showed the photo to students. He said he had not — they had found it.

South Coast Baptist College said some students were upset by the image.

School principal Des Mitchell told 7.30 the issue wasn’t Craig’s sexuality, and he had met with him after the classroom incident.

“I shared with him that at present there is an inconsistency with his beliefs on sexuality and the college’s beliefs,” the statement said.

“At the time Craig requested to be a relief teacher at SCBC, he had a very clear knowledge of the college’s Christian values and related beliefs.

“Young people are naturally inquisitive. The image he posted created interest in his personal life, including his sexuality.”

Craig, who is a Christian, said he decided to come out as gay before his 27th birthday, and told the school “Look, I’ve got a boyfriend. I want to know if this is OK with you guys.”

“I was left a little bit in the dark for quite a while and then it wasn’t until I got an email from the Teacher Registration Board saying that I had been removed from the current staff list that I knew, ‘OK, they’re done with me’.”

While the school is within its legal rights, Craig said he had gone public to encourage tolerance.

In a post to his Facebook page after the 7.30 aired, he said going public with his story was “the most uncomfortable experience of my life”.

“If it were up to me nobody would know these details. I am talking about it in the hope it sparks a necessary change not only in the laws of Western Australia but Australia as a whole. This story is bigger than me and my experience.

“We would not accept a religious school’s right to discriminate against women simply because certain denominations hold that view. Why do we allow it in regards to an individual’s sexuality in modern day Australia?

“I have never discussed my sexuality with the students, nor shared any photos with them. Up until after I left the school in question, many of my close friends did not even know that I was in a relationship with a man.

“Again this fits with my belief that my sexuality does not define me, nor do I label myself by it. It is a completely private matter, in as much as that I often never even have to raise it with those closest to me, let alone those I have no personal relationship with.”

He said people who suggested he knew the rules when he signed up to teach for the school, “my motivating factor was my experience”.

“I knew the isolation and sadness I felt when I attended these institutions, which is not to say this is everybody’s experience,” he wrote.

“For me it was more important that I could be there and provide support to struggling students than it was to live a completely open life.

“I would like to think, at least based on the testimony of the students I have helped, that I have in some way made their schooling a more comfortable and safe environment to exist and learn in.

“Hopefully this will be the last time I have to make such public overtures about such a topic.

WA’s LGBTI Advocacy Group said Mr Campbell’s case highlights the need to change the state’s Equal Opportunity Act, which includes the provision under which Craig was dismissed.

The group says the law is “out of date and out of step” and needs to be changed.