More than 150,000 people have signed an online petition to support the launch of a Gay-Straight Alliance at Celina High School.

The petition on www.change.org was created after students wishing to create the group said about 20 students faced suspension for wearing T-shirts with pro-gay messages.

Students said they were told by school officials to remove the T-shirts.

The incident has received national attention. Actor Iqbal Theba, who plays a principal on the TV show “Glee,” tweeted Nov. 16, “I am with you all on this one! No bigotry. Love for all.”

The school district’s superintendent said the accusations are inaccurate.

“Board Policy 5730 guarantees equal access for non-district-sponsored student clubs and activities,” stated Superintendent Jesse Steiner in a release. “It specifies that any non-district-sponsored student groups may form and use school facilities as in keeping with Board policies. The first step in the procedure is to fill out an application and submit it to the principal. At this time, no student has applied for or even asked to apply for a gay-straight alliance organization through the required procedures.

“If any application were to be submitted by a student who wanted to start a gay-straight alliance, it would be processed the same way that we have processed all previous applications for student groups,” Steiner said. “If the student organization met the conditions required to be met by other student groups, their application would be approved.”