A Haven for LGBTQ Students in the Heart of Alabama
HOMEWOOD, Ala. — Since a brand-new charter school opened its doors in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in the fall, there have been a few disturbances along the periphery.
The public charter school, where about 240 students are enrolled in grades sixth through 12th, aims to be a welcoming place for students who are gay, straight, nonbinary, cisgender or transgender. That makes it a lonely institution in a state that recently passed a law that would make it a felony to provide what doctors call gender-affirming surgery or hormone therapy to people under 19.
In fact, the school is open to students of all backgrounds. In interviews, some students said they had enrolled to escape racism or bullying at their old schools. Others wanted a place to be openly gay, transgender or nonbinary. Some appreciated the school’s mask mandate, which is still in place.“We shouldn’t have to come here and have to put up signs everywhere to let us know that we are loved,” said Juniper, a 14-year-old eighth-grader. “We shouldn’t have to do that.
The school operates under the umbrella of an organization called Birmingham AIDS Outreach, which also runs a medical center that serves many LGBTQ patients, including some whose treatment involves hormone therapy. Rory, 17, a high school junior who is transgender, enrolled here after enduring years of harassment at other schools and stretches of deep despair.The transgender health care law made for a painful civics lesson. Rory’s history teacher, Daniel Evans, set up a projector so students could follow the legislative process in real time. As Rory watched state lawmakers debate his future, he realized that his goal of pursuing hormone therapy was slipping further away.
“They’re coming to us with so much trauma that we have to start peeling back the layers of their onion, Day 1,” Nikki Matthews, the vice principal, said. “As we build on that foundation of their social and emotional strength, and who they are, the education is going to come.”
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