A female Texas police officer found herself on the wrong side of the law after threatening to ticket a retired law enforcement officer-turned-street preacher for ‘offensive speech’ that amounted to his spreading of the gospel on public roads. The entire exchange was caught on camera and captures both the initial encounter and subsequent appeal to a male colleague who actually insisted it mattered on ‘who was offended.’
The episode comes on the heels of well-documented anti-Christian bias from the Democrat-led Biden administration’s weaponization of Christian individuals and communities. As previously referenced by The Christian Tribune, evidence now shows that, among other things, pro-life worshippers were arrested under a dubious connection to the FACE Act while protesting at abortion clinics and that Catholic parents were even targeted and surveilled by the FBI for supposed ties to domestic terrorism.
And now, despite President Trump righting many wrongs, the fact remains that many institutions remain under control by far-left agitators. In the case of this particular local Texas police department, agents believe they have legal authority to silence the expression of speech on the grounds that some people find it offense. One wonders, rhetorically only, if police would silence the expression of religious speech if the perpetrators were Muslim or Jewish.
As the initial encounter begins, the female officer approaches the Christian men and tries to rationalize her presence by saying religious music is acceptable, but once it turns into speech some may find offensive, “then we have a problem,” she said. The complaint arose from the men’s biblical opposition to same-sex relationships, thus triggering some progressives and prompting the complaint.
In response, the men clearly articulated their rights. “That is a Constitutional violation of our rights, if you shut us down,” they reasoned to no avail. The officer immediately countered by errantly suggesting that “if someone is offended by your talking, then we have a problem…If they are offended by your speech, okay, then I’ll write you the ticket and we’ll go from there,” she ridiculously stated.
Amazingly, because this was a very weak argument, she then pivoted to the idea that what the men were engaged in amounted to ‘disorderly conduct’ and that not only was it offensive speech, but that it was “pretty loud” as well. Watch that wild moment below:
And in a follow-up video trying to understand and appeal the bizarre and illegal violation of free speech rights enshrined in the Constitution, the Christians still made their same argument about expression, to which a second male officer repeated the dubious legal ground and asserted on camera that fines, tickets, and misdemeanors would be meted out based only on who was saying something and also who was offended by it.
As the officer declared: “It depends on what you’re saying and who’s offended…if you make fun of somebody if you call them certain words and they feel offended by that. Unfortunately, that is the part of the [law],” he amazingly said. So in other words, if gays are offended by Christian beliefs, then Christians can be penalized. If Christians are offended by beliefs or statements held or said by gays, then there is no issue.
Watch that second video below:
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video