{"id":375874,"date":"2026-07-16T19:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375874\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T19:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:42:08","slug":"doj-pressures-fort-worth-after-street-preachers-cited-at-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/375874\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ pressures Fort Worth after street preachers cited at Pride"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Pride festival, street preachers and questions on First Amendment rights have Fort Worth police<\/a> facing federal scrutiny following an incident in late June.<\/p>\n

On June 27, Fort Worth residents gathered in the Near Southside for the annual Trinity Pride Festival.<\/a> There was a march, live music, drag performances and resource tents. Mixed in among a flurry of rainbow flags and attire, two Amarillo-based street preachers used bullhorns and T-shirts to, as one of the preachers wrote in an X post describing the event,<\/a> \u201cpressure Jesus and rebuke evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those men, David Grisham, is described as the \u201cGrinch who hates Christmas\u201d by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). He visits malls to tell children Santa Claus isn\u2019t real and has previously displayed a sign that read \u201cHomo sex is a sin\u201d at Texas State University in 2024<\/a>. Richard Penkowski is the leader of the Warriors for Christ, which has been designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the SPLC<\/a>, and is currently facing criminal charges in Florida <\/a>for disrupting a group of Muslim men praying on top of a parking garage.<\/p>\n

At Trinity Pride, both men were approached by several Fort Worth police officers in interactions captured on multiple videos. One, reposted on X by the right-wing Libs of TikTok account, shows an officer telling the two men they could be cited for disorderly conduct on the grounds of \u201coffensive speech.\u201d The video currently has over 83,000 likes and 13 million views on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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THANK YOU!<\/p>\n

You’re all set.<\/p>\n

CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Female Texas Cop THREATENS to ticket a retired officer and Christian street preacher for “offensive speech”<\/p>\n

Cop: “If someone is offended by your talking, then we have a problem\u2026”<\/p>\n

Man: “You’re going to ticket us for ‘offensive’ speech?”<\/p>\n

Cop: “Yes, I am”<\/p>\n

This cop is blatantly\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/qX0UjnRBSL<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

DOJ investigates<\/p>\n

The backlash was swift. After considerable conservative social media uproar, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillion, who heads the Justice Department\u2019s civil rights division, called the incident \u201cTroubling\u201d in an X post last week and said her office would look into the matter. On July 13, she sent an open letter<\/a> to Fort Worth City Attorney Leann Guzman requesting policy information from FWPD within 30 days to determine whether the department should launch a formal investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Civil Rights Division (Division) is committed to ensuring that all Americans \u2014 regardless of the content or viewpoint of their speech are protected from unlawful restrictions on expressive activity,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cGovernment actors may not engage in viewpoint discrimination or restrict peaceful expressive conduct simply because the speech may be unpopular, offensive, or controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for FWPD said that while the department \u201cacknowledges that an officer involved in the incident made certain statements that were not accurate,\u201d that \u201cat no time did officers prevent any individuals from expressing their views.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficers told the individuals they could continue exercising their rights without using an amplification device,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cHowever, the individuals willingly ceased protesting after the bullhorn was seized as part of the enforcement action.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the preachers was issued a citation for disorderly conduct for violating the city\u2019s noise ordinance with the bullhorn, according to the statement. The spokesperson also said the department is working with the city\u2019s legal department to cooperate with the DOJ request.<\/p>\n

Dhillon questioned FWPD training standards in her letter. In a recent interview with WFAA<\/a>, FWPD Chief Eddie Garcia said the officers were \u201cwrong\u201d in how they described the law, and told the station that all officers would receive First Amendment training as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest issue that I have is just the conversations and the way that we were describing what is lawful, what is not lawful,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Offensive Speech<\/p>\n

In the video reposted by Libs of TikTok, FWPD Sgt. Sarah Stogner is recorded telling the preachers that \u201cif someone is offended by your talking, then we have a problem.\u201d In another video, the preachers ask whether calling someone \u201csir\u201d would be considered offensive speech, to which an officer responded that it\u2019s a gray area.<\/p>\n

Mark Streiff, a Fort Worth attorney<\/a> who has dealt with free speech issues and FWPD, said offensive speech can be cited by police, but only in rare instances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some contexts, offensive speech can be cited for disorderly conduct,\u201d Streiff said. \u201cBut it\u2019s very, very, very limited in scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government can restrict speech based on very narrow time, place and manner criteria. If speech is considered offensive, it must be proven that it intends to incite an immediate breach of the peace under the \u201cfighting words\u201d doctrine.<\/p>\n

Streiff said that, from what he had seen, the preacher\u2019s actions did not meet that criteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would argue that it was on a public sidewalk, and a lot of these events, especially when you start talking about pride parades,\u201d he said. \u201cAn organization gets the permit, but very often they\u2019re open to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trinity Pride is open to the public, and organizers have reported an attendance of roughly<\/a> 12,500 people at this year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

\u2018What about the First Amendment all the other times?\u2019<\/p>\n

Concerns with Fort Worth PD\u2019s policing of free speech issues have been ongoing, Strieff said. A large number of his clientele is what he describes as left-leaning, and have dealt with similar issues, although those cases didn\u2019t attract DOJ attention, Strieff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took them having an issue with somebody who is more conservative\u2026 to trigger a response by the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, when I saw that, I kind of scratched my head like, \u2018Well, what about the First Amendment all the other times?\u201d<\/p>\n

One of his clients, a self-described citizen journalist who Strieff called a \u201cFirst Amendment auditor,\u201d was recently arrested for disorderly conduct <\/a>while filming a demonstration outside of the Fort Worth Club.<\/p>\n

Still, there have also been other past free speech issues with street evangelization in Fort Worth. In 2016, Fort Worth finalized a settlement in a similar case against Grisham, who has said he could sue the city again over the latest incident. In 2014, a Fort Worth police officer approached Grisham at another Pride event and told him to leave under threat of arrest. The case was later settled in his favor to the tune of $65,000, according to prior reporting by the Fort Worth Star Telegram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Streiff said he is unsure whether further training will help with the problem, as many officers already take a constitutional law class, including the officer filmed in the Libs of TikTok video, Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seems like poor leadership within the Fort Worth Police Department, whether it be their training division or however they\u2019re set up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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