LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — The Lubbock, Texas, school district violated a federal access law and students’ constitutional rights when it barred a group from forming a Gay Straight Alliance on a high school campus, a lawsuit filed July 8 alleges.

Ricky Waite, who graduated from Lubbock High School in May, helped organize the alliance last fall but the group’s application to meet on school premises during non-instructional time was denied by school officials in December, the suit alleges.

Lambda Legal, a New York City-based national GLBT rights organization, filed the lawsuit in Lubbock federal court.

Skip Watson, spokesperson for Lubbock schools, said, “We have not seen it so therefore, until we see it, we have no comment on it.”

The suit claims the district violated the Equal Access Act, which prohibits secondary schools receiving federal funds and allowing non-curricular student groups to meet on campus from discriminating against any groups based on their viewpoints, the suit alleges.

The students’ were discriminated against by district officials in actions that violate the students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and the Civil Rights Act, the suit claims.

The suit names as defendants Lubbock superintendent Wayne Havens, former superintendent Jack Clemmons and Fred Hardin, assistant superintendent for secondary schools.

The district’s stance against students forming the alliance also violates the school’s own policy, the suit claims. District rules state it “shall not prohibit student expression solely because other students, teachers, administrators, or parents may disagree with its content,” the suit claims.

Lambda Legal has successfully argued two other similar cases in California and Utah, which set precedent on the issue. There are now more than 1,200 such groups at schools nationwide, said Lambda.