BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Alba Lucía Reyes Arenas beams with pride when she talks about her son, Sergio Urrego. “There are many things that I can tell you,” said Reyes. “For all moms, our children are very special, but Sergio was interested in things that were beyond his age since he was very little.” After being targeted by teachers and administration at school for being gay, Urrego took his own life on Aug. 4, 2014 at the age of 16.

Urrego’s death sparked outrage among LGBTI rights activists in Colombia. Reyes filed a legal complaint against Urrego’s school on Sept. 11, 2014. A Bogotá court ruled Urrego had been the victim of discrimination, but she did not receive damages and the ruling did not order Colombia’s Ministry of Education to review the school’s policies.

Reyes appealed the decision to the Council of State, which considers appeals from administrative courts. Then-Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez — an outspoken opponent of LGBTI rights who President Iván Duque named as Colombia’s new ambassador to the Organization of American States last month — ruled against Reyes on grounds that schools had the right to ban “kisses and hugs.”

The school’s administrator, Amanda Azucena Castillo, resigned on Oct. 10, 2014. Colombia’s Constitutional Court on Aug. 21, 2015, overturned the Council of State’s decision and ruled in favor of Reyes on Dec. 11, 2015.

Schools in Colombia cannot discriminate against their students based on their sexual orientation. An amendment to the nondiscrimination law that bares Urrego’s name also requires Colombian schools to update their policies to ensure they are not anti-LGBTI.