Isaiah Smith, left, collecting signatures in Keller. (Screen grab from KDAF Channel 33)
KELLER — Sixteen-year-old Isaiah Smith wants Keller Mayor Pat McGrail to join the mayors of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and several smaller cities in Texas by signing Freedom to Marry’s pledge in support of same-sex marriage.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price have declined to sign the pledge, which now contains the signatures of more than 150 mayors nationwide.
Smith said he’ll be at Keller City Hall this afternoon to address city officials at the the regularly scheduled council meeting. Smith is a junior at Keller High School, but he said he’s not acting on behalf of his school’s Gay Straight Alliance. He said he’s going to City Hall with just one other friend and thinks his mayor should do the right thing.
“I’ll be giving a speech on why he should sign,” Smith told Instant Tea.
McGrail would become the first North Texas mayor to sign, if he listens to his young constituent.
Smith has also been collecting signatures on a petition calling for the council to pass an ordinance outlawing discrimination in restaurants in the city. He will present the petition to the City Council later this month.
Last week in a statewide day of action, callers contacted Rawlings to keep up the pressure to sign the pledge.
