A Haven for L.G.B.T.Q. Students in the Heart of Alabama
nytimes.comHOMEWOOD, Ala. — Since a brand-new charter school opened its doors in a suburb of Birmingham, Ala., last fall, there have been a few disturbances along the periphery.
Some cars slowly passed by, with indecipherable shouts from rolled-down windows. A woman used her phone to film the campus. Strangers left threatening voice mail messages.
The episodes were vaguely menacing — they became subjects of gossip in the school hallways, and one made it into a police report — but it takes a lot to deeply rattle the students enrolled at the school, the Magic City Acceptance Academy in Homewood.
Many said they have already been through a lot. Tyler, a 17-year-old senior and a member of the transgender community, said that for years, he had lived in fear of violence and performed social roles that never quite fit. “I’m having to unlearn those things,” he said. “Coming here, it’s very different.” The public charter school, where about 240 students are enrolled in grades six through 12, aims to be a welcoming place for students who are gay, straight, nonbinary, cisgender or transgender.
