SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) Growing up as a transgender child in Chile, Angela was so desperate to escape the physical and verbal abuse from other students at her elementary school that she thought about taking her own life.

I just wanted to die, said the now 16-year-old. I didnt want to exist, because what they did to me made me feel awful.

After suffering years of discrimination, Angela and some 20 other transgender minors aged 6 to 17 have found hope at Latin Americas first school for trans children. The institution, founded by the Chile-based Selenna Foundation that protects their rights, is a milestone in a country that was so socially conservative that it only legalized divorce in 2004.

In recent years, the families of trans children have demanded greater acceptance a call that recently led to the approval of a law that allows people over the age of 14 to change their name and gender in official records with the consent of their parents or legal guardians.