A Sunday Times column which called lesbian presenter Clare Balding a “dyke on a bike” was “demeaning and gratuitous”, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has ruled.

Writer AA Gill used the term in a television review of Britain by Bike, which was presented by Balding.

The PCC upheld Balding’s complaint against Gill, ruling the word dyke was a “pejorative synonym relating to the complainant’s sexuality” which breached the PCC’s Editors’ Code of Practice.

PCC director Stephen Abell said: “Freedom of expression is a key part of an open society and something which the commission has defended robustly in the past.

“While the commentator is clearly entitled to his opinion about both the programme and the complainant, there are restraints placed upon him by the terms of the Editors’ Code.

“Clause 12 is very clear that newspapers must avoid prejudicial, pejorative or irrelevant reference to an individual’s sexual orientation and the reference to Miss Balding plainly breached its terms.”

Balding said she was “delighted” with the PCC’s verdict.

“It was important for me, and crucially, for millions of other people quietly going about their work, to make the point that we deserve to be judged on our ability to do our jobs and not on the basis of our race, religion, gender, or, in this case, sexual orientation,” she said.

“I hope that this decision shows we are moving on from the days when derogatory comments about a person’s sexuality were regarded as clever or funny.”

Stonewall’s chief executive Ben Summerskill said the gay rights group “warmly welcomed” the ruling.

“Expecting civilised treatment isn’t, as the editor of the Sunday Times claimed offensively in response to this complaint, ‘having a special victim status’. We hope the Sunday Times will now accept the PCC’s ruling and repair the damage done to its sales by publication of this article.”

Gill had written in his 25 July column: “Some time ago, I made a cheap and frankly unnecessary joke about Clare Balding looking like a big lesbian. And afterwards somebody tugged my sleeve to point out that she is a big lesbian.

“Now back to the dyke on a bike, puffing up the nooks and crannies at the bottom end of the nation.”

Sunday Times editor John Witherow defended Gill at the time, saying: “The gay community need to stop regarding themselves as having a special victim status and behave like any other sensible group that is accepted by society.”

Balding responded: “When the day comes that people stop resigning from high office, being disowned by their families, getting beaten up and in some instances committing suicide because of their sexuality, you may have a point.”