Abstract

Our research team explored a political campaign that targeted the Magic City Acceptance Academy (MCAA) as the ‘first transgender public school in the South’. Located near Birmingham, Alabama, MCAA opened in fall 2021 as one of the first LGBTQ + affirming charter schools in the United States. In spring 2022, gubernatorial candidate Tim James launched a series of negative TV and radio ads that defamed MCAA, ostensibly to generate votes from the ultra-conservate right wing of the Republican party. Our team conducted an embedded case study of the Tim James campaign as part of a multifaceted phenomenological case study of MCAA. We drew data from media coverage, key informant interviews, and a student focus group. Study findings revealed three themes: concerns for student safety, community support, and unanticipated benefits. Findings further suggested that Tim James’ overt heterosexist actions inherently endorsed binary framings of sexuality and gender, which served his political interests and sought to normalize and privilege cisnormativity and heterosexuality while marginalizing and excluding the needs of LGBTQ + students. The hate speech comprising James’ TV and radio ads reflects anti-LGBTQ + ideology and may serve as a preview of future campaigns that seek to demonize the LGBTQ + community for political gain.

摘要

我们的研究团队探索了一场政治运动，目标是将魔术城录取学院 (MCAA) 打造为“南方第一所跨性别公立学校”。MCAA 位于阿拉巴马州伯明翰附近，于 2021 年秋季开业，是美国首批 LGBTQ + 肯定特许学校之一。2022 年春季，州长候选人蒂姆·詹姆斯推出了一系列诽谤 MCAA 的负面电视和广播广告，表面上是为了吸引共和党极端保守右翼的选票。我们的团队对蒂姆·詹姆斯 (Tim James) 竞选活动进行了嵌入式案例研究，作为 MCAA 多方面现象学案例研究的一部分。我们从媒体报道、关键人物访谈和学生焦点小组中获取数据。研究结果揭示了三个主题：对学生安全的担忧、社区支持和意想不到的好处。调查结果进一步表明，蒂姆·詹姆斯公开的异性恋行为本质上认可了性和性别的二元框架，这符合他的政治利益，并试图使顺规范和异性恋正常化和特权化，同时边缘化和排除 LGBTQ + 学生的需求。詹姆斯电视和广播广告中的仇恨言论反映了反 LGBTQ+ 意识形态，并可能成为未来旨在妖魔化 LGBTQ+ 群体以获取政治利益的活动的预演。