TV presenter Cassie Stokes has revealed that she received homophobic hate mail after taking a job on TV3’s fashion programme, Xposé.

Speaking to The Herald, 28 year-old Stokes said that she received a postcard containing homophobic invective after securing the job of presenter on TV3’s Xposé. The Dundrum native said that the anonymous postcard warned that she would have the gay “label” on her back forever.

“They didn’t sign their name. They definitely had strong feelings towards gay people,” she said.

“There were a few things about, ‘you will have this label on your back forever’ and I was like, ‘really?’” she told The Herald.

“Because I feel like I am wearing that label very proudly on my front. It didn’t hurt me as much as it would hurt your family or something like that,” she explained.

“This person is irrelevant to me, but they could be quite relevant to someone that is in their neighbourhood who is gay.”

Speaking of the hate mail, GLEN director Brian Sheehan said: “The abuse that Cassie received is shocking, and yet it’s a daily reality for many LGBT people,”

“All right-thinking people in Ireland will be horrified that someone would be targeted for who they are. Nobody would condone this kind of abuse.”

Stokes came out publicly in April of this year, telling The Irish Sun: “I’m never going back to guys. I’m only interested in girls. And I think it’s important to be open about your sexuality, no matter who you are. If you are not open about it, you are inadvertently saying it’s wrong, and there is nothing wrong with it.

“I am very proud of who I am and that is who I am.”