I was only eight years old when I realised I was straight. Of course, I didn't think of it like that. My thoughts ran more along the lines of "Gee, I like Cheryl Bazely. I wonder if I could sit next to her?"
It was no more complicated than that.Â
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Bullies told Tyrone to kill himself
Brisbane teenager Tyrone Unsworth told a friend "the kids at school keep telling me to go kill myself". Vision: courtesy ABC
But what if it had been a Peter, or Michael or Luke who'd caught my eye?
What if, instead of Thunderbirds and cricket I'd been fascinated by fashion and make-up?Â
What if I'd been Tyrone Unsworth?
That's the sorrow and the tragedy, not just of one young boy's suicide, but of the ceaseless persecution of thousands of boys and girls, or young men and women, like him. It's the seeming impossibility of change. It's our failure of imagination, our inability to see that we could so easily be him, or someone like him.
It'd be easy to say the ugly, bigoted campaign against the Safe Schools program (and, let's be honest, against the people it is meant to protect) was inhuman. But it was all too human. We can be such monsters.
To read the details of the bullying, of the really nasty, vicious abuse that kid suffered, is to put into a cold, unflattering light the whining of the bigots and their apologists who think themselves the victims of unfair treatment. Just because they don't like being called out for their nastiness.
It also casts into stark relief the real-world consequences of the cruel games played by politicians like George Christensen and Cory Bernardi, and the cowardice of Malcolm Turnbull, who should have put them back in their box the first time they disgraced themselves by turning the government's own Safe Schools program into an exercise in poofter-bashing.
It was such glorious fun, wasn't it boys, being feted by the mouth breathers at News Corp, and Skynews for your brave stand against political correctness. I wonder how much fun you'd have facing up to Tyrone Unsworth's mother and telling her why it was so important her child and every child like him be made to feel like hunted freaks.Â
Of course, that'll never happen. She will live out her life, haunted by the loss of a little boy who should never have been exposed to such savage bigotry.Â
But don't worry. I'm sure it wont cost you any votes. Not this time. Not next time. And there will always be a next time, won't there.
If you or someone you know is affected by this story, please contact Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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