In 2022, street preacher Rich Penkoski used social media to express his moral and religious concerns about a church that endorsed gay marriage and a public drag queen performance in front of children. In one of Penkoski’s posts, he shared the church’s public photo of a same-sex wedding involving leaders of an LGBTQ organization and quoted Bible verses describing God’s judgment of sin. In a second post, Penkoski criticized the church’s publicly shared photos of children celebrating Gay Pride Month. In a third post, Penkoski weighed in on a local effort to ban adult-oriented entertainment in public spaces. In refuting what he believed were false statements by one of the leaders of the LGBTQ group who told city council that no adult-oriented entertainment, obscenity, or sexually suggestive performances had occurred at a Gay Pride event, Penkoski posted a video clip of the LGBTQ leader’s public statement to city council along with a video and photos of a drag queen dancing in a sexually suggestive manner near children at the Pride event.
Although Penkoski never contacted, spoke to, tagged, named, or met the public figures leading the LGBTQ group, the trial court—based upon claims that the LGBTQ leaders felt terrorized and harassed by Penkoski’s social media posts on religious and political issues—imposed a five-year protective order against him. Under the terms of the court’s order, which Rutherford Institute attorneys condemned as chilling lawful First Amendment activities, Penkoski was subject to arrest and up to one year in jail for engaging in conduct that might cause his accusers to fear for their safety, which could broadly be interpreted to prevent him from citing similar Bible verses critical of the church’s or LGBTQ group’s activities. On appeal, the Oklahoma Supreme Court found that the trial court abused its discretion. The protective order is now set to be vacated.
Affiliate attorneys Joe M. Fears and Richard D. White, Jr. with Barber & Bartz represented Penkoski and helped advance the arguments in the appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, defends individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.
This press release is also available at www.rutherford.org.
Source: https://tinyurl.com/3xkmzy62
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