Keller rescinds prayer invitation to church leader who supported LGBTQ event
An Episcopalian priest who was the center of an uproar over a Keller-Southlake Pride festival in October had his invitation to pray at this week’s Keller City Council meeting withdrawn, with Mayor Armin Mizani saying the faith leader’s values don’t align with the community’s.
The Rev. Alan Bentrup, rector at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, said he had for weeks been scheduled to give the invocation at the Dec. 16 council meeting. According to Bentrup, just before the meeting a city official told him the prayer spot had been “double booked.”
Council Member Tag Green instead gave the opening prayer, saying he had asked to do so on the heels of his mother entering hospice care. But Bentrup wondered about the move given his past dispute with Mizani and the council over Bentrup allowing a group called Pride Kel-So to host an LGBTQ Pride festival on the grounds of his Southlake church at 223 S. Pearson Lane on the Keller border.
Bentrup remained at the meeting and spoke during public comments, expressing gratitude to Keller police for responding to threats made against him around the time of the Pride event. Bentrup believes some of those who made the threats were motivated by statements issued by area political leaders, including Mizani. In a Facebook post, Bentrup called the mayor’s words “incendiary.”
Bentrup said in a phone interview that after the Pride festival was announced, he received numerous threats and a barrage of furious phone calls. One of the threats, said Bentrup, included a photo of him with a skull and crossbones. Another included an old photo of his now 15-year-old son, with the person making the threat accusing Bentrup of being a pedophile.
Bentrup insisted he wasn’t afraid, but he nonetheless wrote letters to his children and instructed a friend to give those letters to them should anything happen. This was shortly after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was murdered, said Bentrup, so there was a heightened sensitivity around political violence.
In September, Mizani posted about the Pride event on X (formerly Twitter).
“Let me be clear: the City of Keller is not involved and does not condone this event,” Mizani wrote in the post. “Though promoted as ‘family-friendly,’ the event’s musical acts and programming suggest an agenda aimed at exposing children to inappropriate, highly sexualized content. That’s unacceptable.”
The Star-Telegram asked Mizani if he believed his words fueled some of the threats against Bentrup. He responded with a statement that included the following:
“In Keller, we do not condone threats or violence, even when there are deep disagreements. At the same time, we are unapologetic in expressing our beliefs and standing firm in our convictions.”
When asked about Bentrup not being allowed to pray, Mizani said: “Delivering the opening prayer before Keller City Council meetings is a privilege, not a right. It is irresponsible for the Keller City Council to elevate an individual to lead us in prayer who offended a large majority of our residents when he recently welcomed children to attend an event that exposed them to male drag performers. We will not apologize for or equivocate on this decision.”
In October, April Dreyson, co-founder of Pride Kel-So, told the Star-Telegram that all activities at the Pride event, including the drag show, were age appropriate.
Bentrup said he believes Christians are called to love others, regardless of who they are. That includes members of the LGBTQ community as well as those who opposed Bentrup’s decision to host the Pride event at his church.
“The only way forward is for us to all see each other as human beings first,” he said.
This story was originally published December 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM.