As the debate about the Equality Act continues on Capitol Hill, a group of Christian college students is suing the U.S. Department of Education, arguing that the religious exemption to Title IX is unconstitutional because it permits discrimination against LGBT individuals. 

On Monday, a 33-member coalition of LGBT students who call themselves the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP) and composed of current and former students from Christian and religious schools filed a federal lawsuit that asks the declaration of "religious exemptions" as unconstitutional.

The suit says the religious exemption the schools are given that allow them to have discriminatory policies is unconstitutional because they receive government funding. The class-action suit references 25 schools across the country. It calls for a permanent injunction on Title IX religious exemptions relating to "sexual and gender minority students."

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits educational institutions from discriminating on the basis of sex or gender, but a religious exemption in the law allows religious institutions to skirt the rule if following it would go against their religion. 

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