Isaiah Smith, center, posed with North Richland Hills police officers who came to his school to watch him receive an award.
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS — Isaiah Smith hasn’t handled bullying in school the way other teens do. He’s petitioned his mayor and city council, started a gay-straight alliance and contacted media.
This week, he was suspended from school, so he didn’t handle that the way most teens do, either. He called Dallas Voice as well as TV news stations.
Smith is attending Birdville High School his senior year. As a member of band and a retired teen court attorney and police explorer, he’s never been suspended or in trouble before.
He said he’s been bullied in school and told he can’t be Christian and gay.
“The Bible is a beautiful thing,” Smith said. “It’s not a bullying tool.”
So he began carrying the Bible to school with him, and this week, when he was taunted for a line in Leviticus, he tore that book out of his Bible.
“The assistant principal called me into the office,” he said and told him, “’You can bring it to school but can’t rip it.’”
The assistant principal told him he couldn’t create a disruption in class. He said the administrator asked him how Muslims would feel if he ripped up the Koran. The difference is Smith is a Christian tearing his own religion’s book.
Smith was given a three-day suspension.
Last year, Smith petitioned the Keller City Council to add a nondiscrimination ordinance after collecting about 1,200 signatures of voters and 800 youth signatures.
Although the council didn’t act on the petition, the mayor complimented Smith on his passion and allowed him to speak beyond the usually allotted three minutes.
Smith has political ambitions, created a Facebook page to promote human rights, and when he asked the Council on Foreign Relations a question, they answered on their website.
He should be graduating from school this year and plans to go to college — hopefully in someplace like Massachusetts.
