A teacher at a Catholic school in New Jersey, USA, has caved into pressure from LGBT activists by suspending her from her job at the school after she defended traditional marriage on her Facebook page.

Patricia Jannuzzi, a teacher at the Immaculata School in Somerville, drew fire when she accused gay activists wanting to “reengineer western civ (sic) into a slow extinction. We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of children and humanity.”

Following complaints, Immaculata ordered Jannuzzi to remove her post and announced that the school was investigating the teacher’s curriculum to assure her comments were not part of her classes in religion.

However, the issue began to gain media attention when a former pupil, Greg Bennett, now a reality television star, took to Twitter to denounce Jannuzzi as a “nightmare dumpster human” and urged his 165,000 followers to sign a petition against her launched by another former pupil. Latterly, the actress Susan Sarandon, an aunt of Bennett, took up the issue on her own Facebook page and denounced Jannuzzi’s stance.

Immaculata has now moved to suspend Jannuzzi from her post. The school’s principal, Jean Kline, said: “We are dedicated to creating a school environment that promotes mutual respect and provides a challenging academic program, rooted in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.”

Supporters of Jannuzzi have criticised Immaculata School’s treatment of her, however. One former pupil spoke up to assert: “The bottom line is that she’s been working at the parish and at the school for over 30 years. And they are now shocked, shocked that she is active and vocal on Catholic moral issues.”

Meanwhile, a vocal defender of traditional marriage, Prof. Robert George of Princeton University has also spoken on the issue, stating: “What an irony and disgrace that in the name of inclusion a faithful Catholic woman is being thrown by Catholic school officials to a mob led by Susan Sarandon.”