Subway employee refuses to serve street preacher with shirt denouncing homosexuality
An outspoken Christian street preacher claims to have been denied service at a Subway restaurant in Wisconsin because he was wearing a T-shirt that declared homosexuality a sin and referenced Romans 1.
Rich Penkoski, who leads the online ministry Warriors for Christ, told The Christian Post that he is considering a lawsuit against Subway after he was recently refused service at one of their locations in Waunakee, Wisconsin.
According to footage of the incident that has since racked up millions of views on X, an employee admitted that she was refusing to serve Penkoski for reasons she described as "a personal matter."
Leftist Karen refuses to serve Christians for wearing a Christian shirt. @SUBWAY Wanaukee Wisconsin. 608 268-1494 We can't refuse service to alphabet mafia, but they can refuse us? ???????? pic.twitter.com/WNzj6935nC
— Lexit (@LexitMovement1) July 17, 2024
"We walked in, and I heard the girl with the red hair in that video say, 'Oh, Hell no, I'm not serving these guys,'" Penkoski told CP.
"And there was a customer in front of us, and she said to him, 'Are you with these gentlemen?'" Penkosksi said. "He looked back at us and goes, 'I'm not sure these are gentlemen.' So I took out my phone and I told the pastor sitting next to me; I said, 'They just refused service to us!'"
The Subway employee also noted that Penkoski's T-shirt was the reason why she was refusing to serve him, according to the video. Penkoski told CP that his shirt said "homo-sex is sin" and listed "Romans 1" beneath it.
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Penkoski, who was traveling with other pastors after preaching outside the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, said he believes the incident at the Subway location shows there is a double standard when it comes to denying service to people who oppose LGBT ideology.
"If the shoe were on the other foot, if somebody walked in and said, 'Oh, I'm gay or whatever,' and I said, 'Nope, I'm not serving you,' this would be all over the place, and I'd be fired, or I'd be getting sued," he said.
"But these LGBT people are so emboldened, that they think just because they're either gay or gay allies, they can say and do whatever they want," he added. "So if they really want equality, then they should be OK with me suing them the same way they sue us."
Penkoski said he has spoken with his attorney about the possibility of legal action against Subway, believing the restaurant violated his civil rights.
Subway's corporate office did not respond to CP's request for comment by time of publication.
Penkoski's family made headlines earlier this year when the Overton County Board of Education in Tennessee agreed to pay $101 to his daughter Brielle three years after she was sent home from the Livingston Academy public high school for wearing a shirt that also said "homosexuality is a sin."
Last month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court also tossed out a five-year restraining order filed against him by Sheena Hayes and Morgan Lawrence-Hayes, as noted by his lawyers at the Rutherford Institute.
In February 2023, Washington County District Court Judge Linda Thomas granted the protective order against Penkoski when the couple claimed they felt unsafe in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Penkoski had taken to social media to quote a Bible verse in opposition to LGBT advocacy group Oklahomans for Equality. He protested outside a local church that held a drag show where children were present.
Penkoski had also posted a public photo of the same-sex wedding of Hayes and Lawrence-Hayes, the executive board president of the Bartlesville chapter of Oklahomans for Equality.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to [email protected]
