SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: LGBT community, academics, students and more get behind Safe Schools founder Roz Ward on social media

Jenny Noyes

To people who've only come to know the name Roz Ward via recent attacks on her by conservative politicians and media, she's little other than a "Marxist".

But for those who know her through her work, as the founder and manager of the Safe Schools Coalition, she's much more than the political stamp with which she's been branded and subsequently demonised.

Since the news that La Trobe University had stood Ward down from her position as an academic broke on Wednesday afternoon - over nothing more than a private Facebook post in which she criticised the Australian flag as "racist" - her supporters started a Facebook page that has gathered more than 5,000 likes - and a rally has been planned at the university on June 11.

A Change.org petition to reinstate Ward has gathered almost 5,000 signatures.

At the same time, young LGBT people and their families who have worked with Ward are sharing their stories of how she has personally helped them, using the hashtag #IStandWithRozWard.

Eric Ly, an 18-year-old transgender man, says Roz Ward saved his life.

After tweeting his support for Ward, Ly told Buzzfeed "I would have meetings with the principal and end up breaking down, after or during the meeting. I would ring Roz, and Roz would always listen to me, offer to help, offer to ring the school to talk about their responsibilities."

High school and primary school students are also speaking up.

These messages are joined with broader messages of support, particularly from the academic, activist and La Trobe alumni communities dismayed by the university's decision to cave in to such attacks on political and academic freedom.