Tyrone Unsworth was only 13 when he took his own life on November 22 following relentless bullying over his sexuality.
The day before he took his own life, Tyrone had tragically told a friend “everyone wanted him dead.”
“He was an absolute mess, crying his eyes out and telling me everyone wants him dead and I said, ‘Tyrone, what do you mean everyone wants you dead?’,” Gypsie-Lee Edwards Kennard told ABC’s 7.30.
“He said, ‘The kids at school keep telling me to go kill myself’, and I was obviously gobsmacked. [The other students] did call him nasty names, like faggot and fairy.”
He was described him as a “spiritual” boy who loved “girly things”, and Ms Edwards Kennard said the pair would play with makeup and he would chose dresses for her to wear.
“Kids obviously thought that because he was like that that he could be a target for bullying,” she added.
One month before his death, Tyrone was hospitalised after he was attacked by another student outside their school.
“This kid picked up a fence paling and hit him from behind and knocked him out and broke Tyrone’s jaw,” Ms Edwards Kennard said.
Following his death, Aspley State High School issued a statement saying they were aware of the incident outside the school and a complaint had been made to police, but said no allegation of bullying had been made.
“However, in relation to bullying, let me be very clear: no allegation of bullying against this young person was made to our school,” Principal Jacquita Miller said in the statement according to Fairfax.
Ms Edwards Kennard said she urged her friend to tell someone at school what was going on, but that he said “they don’t care”.
“He just felt like no-one wanted him around and he didn’t belong. It’s really hard to hear that from a child that’s only 13 years old.”
Following his death their has been an outpouring of support for Tyrone and his family, and an urgent call for more to be done to support and protect LGBTQIA youth.
At a Safe Schools rally in memory of Tyrone, Jess Origliaso from the Veronicas marched alongside his grandmother, and took to Instagram to share an impassioned plea.
“Kids, like Tyrone are bullied and and made to feel like outcasts for their sexual or gender diversity and interests,” she wrote on Instagram. “Bullied to a point that he felt his only option was to leave this life.”
“Please Australia, it’s time to do more. Tyrone should still be here with us today.”
