Student: I often say that this school is like my favorite place.

MC: It’s morning in Alabama, at one of the few schools of its kind in the country.
“Have a good day”
Student: It’s just like any other school, we just lift up people who are put down.
MC: Some of the teenagers are traveling more than an hour each way to get to
the Magic City Acceptance Academy - a new charter school in the suburbs of
Birmingham. It becomes a magical place for more than 230 students who’ve left
behind old middle and high schools, where they didn’t feel safe or respected.
Student: You come here if you want to be somebody. You can't be outside of
these walls.
MC: This repurposed office building sure does feel like any schools in America.
Student: My name is Evelyn. I just identify myself as queer.
MC: But what’s different is that many of these students are proudly queer and
this school tells them all in every room and in every hallway. You are perfect just
the way you are.
Student: I am Loki. I am a senior and I go by they/she pronouns.
Teacher: What was it about your old high school that you really wanted to sort of
get away from?
Student: The bullying and like… harassment was like very overwhelming and I
was just in like a dark place going there.
MC: But outside the new school, there are people who want to tear the walls
down. Right here in Alabama, millions of your tax dollars are paid for the 1st
Transgender public school in the South.
People: Enough of this foolishness, it’s time to fight back.
MC: There are grown-ups who say that this publicly funded charter school that’s
open to any students is ruining America.
Student: It’s a scary thing. Oh, my school is on the TV and it’s not like… they’re
not saying good things about it.
Teacher: You’re worried about the safety?
Student: Yes, and the fact that a grown person would use children as like… a
pawn in their political campaign just like… infuriates me.
Student: I amChristian Zayla. I am a straight male. It upset me and it made me
mad to a certain point.
Student: I was actually one of the people whose face was shown in the ad.
Teacher: What did your parents say?
Student: My parents were very very angry, especially my mom.
MC: These students and their families feel very much under attack by forces that
stretch far beyond Alabama. In nearly 40 states, lawmakers have come up with
more than 200 measures that target LGBTQ children and their parents in
Alabama. The governor recently approved the law tied up in court that could
make it a felony for medical professionals to provide gender-affirming care to
transgender children under the age of 19. And this is how her explained her
signature:
Woman: We need to protect our young people and if the good Lord makes you a
boy when you’re born, you are a boy. If the good Lord makes you a girl when
you’re born, you’re a girl.
Student: The politicians here, they make us feel unwelcome.
MC: The parents of Eliza Julian tell us they’re tired of people who don’t know any
better telling them what’s healthy for their daughters.
Mother: It’s almost immediately she made friends, she’s going out. She’s going
out almost every weekend. Um, this is somebody who very rarely went out and
did anything at all.
Father: So, it’s kind of yeah… It was a lot like.. you know having her back. So,
I’ve tried to be outspoken as much as I can and people need to know the truth.
MC: The truth is this school is saving lives. It’s no secret anymore that queer
teenagers are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide and according to the trevot
project, about 1.8 miliion queer youth will seriously consider suicide each year in
the U.S alone.
 Nigel Shelby was a freshman at Huntsville high school in Alabama. When
he ended his own life in April of 2019: “We’re cooking, we’ll be making
them. We’re making biscuits, let’s go.”
 Mother: “It’s not easy. It’s not easy at all. I don’t think Nigel struggled with
being gay. I think Nigel struggled with being accepted.”
MC: His mother asked us to share these videos and photos so that the world will
know that at least at home, he was loved for who he was.
 Mother: “Ever since Nigel was born, I just.. I kind of knew like…. Me and
one of my friends were out shopping and we were trying to figure out, you
know, what I was going to get Nigel for Christmas. And we’d seen this
rainbow hoodie, which is the hoodie he has on on my shirt. Christmas Day,
I let him open all his gifts and I saved it for the last. He hugged me so tight.
I’ll never forget him telling me that this was the best christmas present
because I guess it was a symbol to him that “Okay, my mama really does
accept me”.”
MC: It was acceptance that she says he wasn’t accepting in school and it was his
last Christmas alive.
MC: Walking the acceptance academy with the school principal, you can feel the
weight and importance of his work with every step.
Principal: We are about giving these kids a life. When you go to the authorities or
your parents do in a school and complain that you’re being harassed in the
restroom, pushed up against your locker every day and nothing’s done.
MC: The kids very delicately said that, you know, they believe that you’re saving
lives.
Principal: You know, I can’t help get emotional when I hear that. It’s not straight
as it’s about first and foremost being proud of who you are within your skin.