An Irish Traveller says more support is needed to help prevent an epidemic of suicide among the community’s LGBT children.

Campaigner Martin Ward, from Northfleet, has shared his own heartbreaking story of coming out which left him all alone at just 15 years old.

“The death toll of Gypsy and Traveller children who are committing suicide over coming out to their families is mind-blowing,” said Martin.

Earlier this year, he went viral on TikTok after he featured in videos sharing his experience as a gay Irish Traveller.

“I have so many private messages come through on Instagram and TikTok from Traveller girls saying they’ve had the same experiences as me and when they’ve gone to tell their family, their mothers and fathers have said ‘no’ and shunned them from home and don’t want to know them.

“It’s hard, there’s no support out there – it’s a lot worse than you actually think it is,” said Martin.

Recently, the charity Traveller Pride opened the first UK helpline for LGBT Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.

The confidential service offers a “listening ear” for those who wish to share their story, are in need of advice or service recommendation, require support with education issues or to report a hate crime.

But Martin said more needs to be done, on top of the “amazing” work being conducted by the Brighton-based organisation.

“It’s too much to sit here as an Irish gay Traveller and watch all these children die,” he said.

Martin’s own experience of coming out left him estranged from his family for months, taking a toll on his mental health at a young age.

He first told his family as a teen when they were staying at Brighton Seafront.

With his sisters, he snuck into a gay bar called Revenge to see an Irish singer perform there.

“We were all underage, we shouldn’t have been but we went there anyway and got in.

“We saw this singer and then the girls sort of realised and my sister said to me ‘Martin have you got something that you want to tell us?’,” remembered Martin.

Though he denied it initially, he admitted that he was gay to his sisters later that night, swearing them to secrecy.

“We went home, and the next morning I got up, the whole family was camped together outside drinking cups of tea and my sister said ‘tell mummy what you like’,” he said.

Martin ended up telling his parents but his mum expressed concern if his extended family found out.

“She was sort of scared about what was going to happen to me. Would they bully me? Would they leave me alone?

“You know, a gay girl or fella wasn’t really a thing you heard on a Traveller site – it was never spoken about, it was never seen.

“We had no other choice, most of them covered it up and got married - which was wrong. It shouldn’t have happened and should never happen,” said Martin.

Later, he came out to the rest of his family by telling them “I like what my mother likes”, thinking it would be a better way of admitting it.

But instead, Martin was brutally beaten, leaving him with broken arms and ribs.

As he limped away, passers-by helped him get to the hospital.

“Police came, social services came and obviously, I got worried - I have other brothers and sisters,” said Martin.

Despite encouragement from a nurse to tell them what had happened, he refused to speak.

“I said ‘can I borrow this wheelchair?’ and she said yes so I got in it and went down the hill to where we were all camped at the seafront, and they were all gone.

“Everything was gone. I just sat there in shock. I was numb. I was 15.

“I didn’t have anywhere to go, I had nothing, I had no one.”

As the teenager sat by the windy coast, soaked by the rain, an elderly couple approached him asking if he was okay.

“They asked what had happened to me and why I was all bandaged up so I said I fell over and he just laughed - he knew I was lying,” said Martin.

He told them the truth and much to his surprise the man started pushing his wheelchair.

He said: “I asked what he was doing and he said ‘obviously I can’t leave you here’ and he brought me to their home.

“The next day he kept asking me questions but I was scared to tell him.

“Then a radio shout came on saying that police in Brighton were looking for a 15-year-old young Traveller boy who was missing and he said ‘that’s you, isn’t it’”

That day the police arrived at the home and put Martin under section 21 for his safety . He was put in care.

“I was in a secure unit but I couldn’t live with myself, I just thought ‘This is not right’ – my heart was burning.”

At 16 he bought his own van and was determined to find his family. Despite being against the law, in Traveller cultures many drive from as young as 12.

Martin said: “It was family members online that I did get on with - cousins of mine, girls that felt sorry for me who told me where my mother and father were. They were on Dantzic Street [in Manchester].

“I said ‘I’m going home’. Everyone was saying to me not to go, including the Gypsy Liason officer down here at the time [Kim White] – she thought my life was going to be in danger.”

He set out on the motorway, and despite nearly turning around and heading back for Kent, he determinedly continued on.

“I remember bursting out crying, doing a U-turn towards Manchester.”

“I thought what was the worst they could do? Bait me again? Even though I didn’t get it, I needed to go back to understand anyway,” he said.

What Martin hadn’t realised was that during the time he had been estranged from his parents, they had been looking for him and had fallen out with his family members over what had happened.

“I turned into this site, I walked past the gate and I looked to the left and my father was just staring at me.

“I said to him ‘What does it cost for us all to respect one another? We should get on no matter what – your sexuality doesn’t change who you are’,” said Martin.

But Martin was soon met with vile obscenities from his cousin telling him he “should be dead”.

Heartbroken, he shouted across the plot “Come out and put your hands up.”

“I don’t like fighting and I don’t like trouble, but God was on my side and I absolutely mortified him - my heart was on fire.”

Following the violence, his cousin’s father shouted at him “you let a gay beat you”.

“I said no ‘God has put it in my favour because God knows you are the wrong ones, not me.

“And that was it. It was painful and it’s still not any better, I must admit and it breaks my heart,” reflected Martin.

Last year, Romani-Gypsy George Ward, who was known as RuPaul drag queen Cherry Valentine took his own life.

He became a prominent figure for Travellers who are also of the LGBT community and received widespread praise for his own BBC documentary.

Martin said: “That [his death] really affected me, I thought the documentary was amazing.”

“To find out afterwards, I just thought ‘Why didn’t you ring me? Why didn’t talk to me? Why didn’t you tell me how you were feeling?

“Sometimes I feel like, am I going to be the only one?”

Anyone struggling with their mental health can contact Travellers Pride helpline on 07395 355 066 or 0800 233 5066 every Monday from 5pm to 8.30pm.

Martin said: “I think we all need to be united, together and know that we have each other – that’s all we need in life.”