Musa Jafri knows the pain bullying can cause.

Jafri, who is now 20, says in sixth grade classmates began to belittle him because of his Muslim faith.

"In the cafeteria they started saying, 'There goes the terrorist.' It was really hard because Islam is a big part of my identity; a big part of who I am," Jafri said.

Jafri's story inspired House Bill 576, which is currently being reviewed by Maryland lawmakers.

"It's about notifying parents," Delegate Eric Ebersole of Baltimore County told 7News.

Ebersole is one of the sponsors of HB 576 which requires school staff to report bullying incidents.

The proposal that recently won approval in the House of Delegates and is now in the Senate, also speeds up the parental notification process when a student is bullied from three business days to within twelve hours.

But there's another aspect of the proposed legislation that's raising some concerns.

"The LGBTQ community alerted us that because there are problems in households with transgender and homosexual students sometimes who are not out to their parents yet, that it could cause a problem if a report was made to a family," Ebersole explained.

The bill was adjusted to read: "If an act of bullying, harassment or intimidation is determined to be motivated by the alleged victim's actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, notification to the parent or guardian of the alleged victim shall be at the discretion of the alleged victim."

"This leaves a provision in there that allows the student to inform or not inform the parents," Delegate Kris Fair of Frederick County stated.

That part of HB 576 is drawing criticism from a religious organization known as the National Legal Foundation.

"These are the kids that are most susceptible to suicidal ideation, suicide attempts. These parents will not even know that this is happening to their child. It doesn't make any sense to set aside [the] most at-risk kids from being able to be supported by their parents," NLF President Steven Fitschen said.

Jafri disagrees and thinks bullied LGBTQ students should have a say when it comes to parental notification.

"It's a very, very strong and important provision to put in the bill to allow students, especially those students, to have the control over whether or not their parents are told," Jafri said.