Beginning in January 2013, a six-year-old, African-American child attending an elementary school in Richmond, Virginia endured “racial epithets and profanity” from his peers. He was “also repeatedly called gay; even though he is not gay he was perceived to be based on perceived notions that an intelligent boy who is not aggressive, does not want to fight and have interest (sic) beyond the mental capacity of most children does not have the qualities of a normal boy,” his mother wrote in the federal lawsuit she brought on his behalf last year.

Despite the mother’s pleas to school officials, her son faced “verbal abuse, stalking, physical assaults, theft of property, and taunting.” He told his mother that school made him sick and asked to stay home. He asked to be home schooled. His mother enrolled him in another school two months later.

A federal court concluded that the child was “subjected to what might be properly characterized as severe bullying,” but dismissed the case saying that “harassment based on actual or perceived sexual orientation is not generally actionable under Title IX,” a federal law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in schools that receive federal funds, and that “the discrimination must be based on the plaintiff’s gender.”

Other claims brought under Title VI, a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bars racial discrimination in schools receiving federal funds, were also dismissed. There were other legal issues with the case. The mother, who is not an attorney, represented her son and she struggled with the laws that govern discrimination in education. A higher court has since sent the lawsuit back to the court to reconsider some parts of the case.

There is no federal law that explicitly bars discrimination in education based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The US Department of Education has said that it believes that Title IX does protect LGBT people, and in some cases it has, but as the court in Virginia made clear, that advisory opinion does not have the force of law. Currently, just 17 states and the District of Columbia have laws that protect students from bullying that include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes.

The harassment that the Virginia child experienced is common. In its 2011 National School Climate survey of 8,584 students in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) reported that 71 percent of students heard anti-LGBT slurs in school. Fifty-seven percent of students heard such slurs from teachers or school staff. Thirty-eight percent said they had been physically harassed and 18 percent report experiencing assaults.

There is a solution – a comprehensive civil rights law that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in education, employment, public accommodations, housing, and federal programs and is akin to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) only bans employment discrimination.