Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price in the Tarrant County Pride Parade last year.
In case you missed it, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price issued a statement the other day saying she doesn’t plan to sign a pledge in support of same-sex marriage. Although Price is a Republican, she expressed support for the LGBT community during her campaign last year and served as grand marshal of the Tarrant County Gay Pride Parade in October. On the marriage pledge issue, however, Price is a taking similar tack to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings:
“I remain focused on the business of the City of Fort Worth,” Price said in a statement. “The issue of same sex marriage is one for the state, not local government.”
Six Texas mayors have now joined about 100 others from across the U.S. in signing the pledge in support of same-sex marriage, according to Freedom to Marry. But none of those six is from North Texas, which is kinda sad. After all, Dallas-Fort Worth is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., so you’d think we’d have a least one name on the list. As it stands, Bexar County is leading the way in the Lone Star State with three mayors who’ve signed the pledge: Julian Castro of San Antonio, Bruce Smiley-Kalff of Castle Hills (pop. 4,202) and A. David Marne of Shavano Park (pop. 1,754). The other three mayors from Texas are Annise Parker of Houston, Joe Jaworski of Galveston and Lee Leffingwell of Austin.
Stay tuned to Instant Tea for coverage of tonight’s protest outside Dallas City Hall and Saturday’s meeting between Mayor Rawlings and LGBT leaders. I’ll also do my best to keep you updated on Twitter, where someday I hope to have 1,000 followers.
I look at it this way… Wouldn’t it feel like a nudge to the governors of the states if the mayors and city officials are saying they support something? The Texas Gov is so far out there (hopefully on his last term) that there’s no sense in trying to reason with him as a person, so it just make sense to start from the bottom with local politicians and work your way up the ladder.
What would happen tp Mayor Price if she were to “officially” sign the marriiage equality pledge! Do a little research and see how she is being attacked for her decision to participate in the Fort Worth Pride Parade. It’s often unsafe to be a bold bridge builder out west!
Rest in Peace – Abilene’s Rev Karen Johnson
The population size of a city doesn’t support the bias that all Mayors should sign petitions presented to them regarding matters at state and federal levels. A Mayor’s role varies from city to city regardless of the number of people living in the city limits. The process for change used by gay men and lesbians varies from city to city. Their effectiveness doesn’t rely on the total number of people in the city or its comparative ranking in size with other cities.