A street preacher said a Subway worker in Wisconsin recently refused to serve him over his T-shirt displaying a phrase condemning homosexuality as a sin.
Rich Penkoski told the Christian Post he was wearing a T-shirt displaying the phrase “Homo sex is sin: Romans 1” when an interaction took place — which was recorded on video — in the Waunakee restaurant. Penkoski was traveling with other pastors after preaching outside the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the Post added. Waunakee is about an hour and 20 minutes west of Milwaukee.
‘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.’
David Grisham, apparently also one of the street preachers, posted a Facebook message Tuesday with multiple photos saying, “This person working at Subway in Waunakee Village Mall refused to serve us because of our Christian T-shirts. Christophobic bigotry should not be tolerated. Please give Subway corporate a call.” It isn’t clear on what date the interaction occurred.
One of the photos Grisham posted shows four men outside a Subway wearing T-shirts displaying phrases such as, “Abortion is murder,” “Homo sex is sin: Romans 1,” and “Planned Parenthood murders children and rapes their mothers.”
Grisham posted video of the interaction in the Subway, writing in the caption, “Subway Karen refuses to serve street preachers because of Christian T-shirts in Waukanee [sic] Wisconsin.” The following is how the exchange went down:
“Are you refusing to service customers? She’s refusing to serve us,” one man says in the clip. “She just said she’s refusing to serve us.”
“What are you talking about?” another man asks.
“This girl right here said she’s refusing to serve us,” the first man replies.
“So we have to go somewhere else?” a third man wonders.
“I want her to say it again,” the first man says.
“I am refusing you service,” the Subway worker behind the counter replies.
As for her reasons for the refusal, she soon says it’s a “personal matter.”
The first man asks if it’s “because of my T-shirt?”
She replies, “Yes.”
“OK, [I’m] sure Subway Corporate will love to hear that,” the first man replies.
The Christian Post reported that the Subway employee speaking in the video was referring to Penkoski’s “Homo sex is sin: Romans 1” T-shirt.
“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,” Penkoski told the Post.
Penkoski added to the Post, “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. 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 possible legal action against Subway for a civil rights violation, the Post added.
Grisham noted in a Facebook comment that his group “did NOT purposely try to antagonize anyone. We just went in for a sandwich. A local pastor was buying us dinner, and we had only been inside for less than a minute and hadn’t said a word to anyone. She just saw our shirts and blurted out profanity and said she wouldn’t serve us. REASONABLE people are reasonable when it comes to differences of opinion and are professional enough to just serve someone without letting their emotions go into elementary schoolyard mode and whine publicly.”
Grisham noted in another comment that “if we had been homosexuals with rainbow shirts, and they refused us service, there would be riots in the streets.”
But plenty of commenters on Grisham’s Facebook posts about the incident pushed back hard. To wit:
“Learn the difference between Christianity and Christian nationalism,” one commenter shot back. “[You] all are simply bigots, and that’s why she refused you service.””I wouldn’t serve you, either,” another commenter said. “You wear disgusting shirts like that to get a reaction out of people. Good job. You got your reaction.””Subway will not take your side, nor will any reasonably minded person,” another commenter declared before adding, “You are not a Christian in any way shape or form.””Having these kinds of shirts on and calling them ‘religious T-shirts’ is a CRAZZYYY reach,” another commenter wrote. “Speaks volumes to the values of your religious priorities, I guess. You’re always welcome to have freedom of speech, not freedom of consequence. To everyone saying you should sue based on ‘religious discrimination’ has (1) never seen the shirts you guys were actually wearing or (2) is grossly misinformed as to how the legal system actually works. The prosecutors would laugh it out the courthouse in an hour.”
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 sided with Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips after he refused to make a cake celebrating a same-sex wedding. But last October, the Colorado Supreme Court said it would take up a lawsuit from transgender plaintiff Autumn Scardina against Phillips after he refused to make a cake to celebrate Scardina’s gender transition.
The Christian Post said Subway’s corporate office did not respond to its request for comment by time of publication.
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Christians, Subway, Wisconsin, Waunakee, Religious discrimination, Refusal of service, Republican national convention, Anti-abortion, Abortion, Anti-lgbtq, Planned parenthood, Sin, Repentance, Hell, David grisham, Street preachers, Rich penkoski, Faith
