Free Speech Showdown in Fort Worth

A Fort Worth cop told street preachers she would ticket them if Pride-goers were offended, and her own department later admitted those words got the First Amendment wrong.

Story Snapshot

A viral video shows a Fort Worth officer saying she would ticket “offensive” speech outside a Pride event.
Fort Worth police later admitted her comments about free speech and disorderly conduct were “not accurate.”
The preacher was cited only for “unreasonable noise” from a bullhorn, not for what he said.
The clash highlights growing fears on both left and right that government power now trumps basic rights.

What Happened Outside Fort Worth’s Pride Fest

On June 27, two Christian street preachers, Rich Penkoski and David Grisham, stood on public sidewalks outside Trinity Pride Fest in downtown Fort Worth. They wore shirts and carried signs with religious messages about homosexuality and sin while speaking to passersby. Video posted online shows veteran officer Sarah Stogner telling them, “If someone is offended by your talking, then we have a problem” and warning, “If they are offended by your speech, I will write you a ticket.” When asked if she would ticket them for “offensive” speech, she replied, “Yes, absolutely… it’s called disorderly conduct.”

As the discussion continued, officers moved the men farther from the event fence line and focused on Grisham’s handheld bullhorn. Police said the amplifier could violate the city’s “unreasonable noise” rules and warned him to stop using it. Grisham kept preaching with the bullhorn and was eventually cited for disorderly conduct based on “unreasonable noise,” not the content of his message. Video and later statements from the department confirm that no ticket was ever written for “offensive” words alone.

Police Backtrack and Promise First Amendment Training

Public reaction to the video was swift, with critics on both sides of the political spectrum saying the officer’s warning sounded like a direct threat against free speech. In a formal statement, the Fort Worth Police Department said the clip captured “only a portion” of the interaction but admitted “an officer involved in the incident made certain statements that were not accurate.” The department stressed it is committed to protecting the constitutional right to free speech and claimed the citation stemmed from the use of a bullhorn that violated the city’s noise ordinance, not the content of the preaching.

Police Chief Eddie Garcia later spoke publicly about the incident and did not try to defend the officer’s wording. He said, “When we’re right, we’re right, and when we’re wrong, we’re wrong, and there certainly was a better way to have that communication. And we were wrong in the manner in which we communicated that.” Garcia announced refresher training for officers and new recruits on First Amendment protections and how to handle protests, religious speech, and other expression in public spaces. That step came as federal civil rights officials signaled interest in reviewing the department’s handling of free speech complaints.

Noise Laws, Disorderly Conduct, and “Offensive” Speech

Fort Worth’s noise rules define “unreasonable noise” as loud, disturbing sound that causes “material distress, discomfort or injury to persons of ordinary sensibilities.” Texas disorderly conduct law allows charges when someone uses “abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar” language that by its very utterance tends to cause an immediate breach of the peace. A Fort Worth criminal defense guide notes that the state must show more than “bad manners” or a simple argument in public; the words must be likely to provoke violence right away.

🚨 UPDATE: This Fort Worth TX police officer is facing mass demands to be FIRED after she issued a citation warning to a Christian preacher for "OFFENSIVE SPEECH"

This is AMERICA, not Europe!

She straight up claimed: "If someone is offended by your talking, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"… pic.twitter.com/N5znnqv6n7

— MASTER POOL (@mrpooln) July 17, 2026

Civil rights attorney CJ Grisham, who is advising the preachers, argues the bullhorn citation does not meet these standards and calls the charge “baseless.” He and others say the key problem is not the ticket itself but the earlier threat to punish “offensive” speech, which appears to treat hurt feelings as a crime. The department’s own admission that the officer’s statements were inaccurate undercuts claims that she correctly applied disorderly conduct law. It also echoes past court rulings that government cannot target speech simply because listeners are upset, whether at Pride events or other public gatherings.

Why This Clash Feels Bigger Than One Cop and Two Preachers

For many Americans watching this story, the details hit a nerve that crosses party lines. Conservatives see a Christian preacher pushed back from a public sidewalk and threatened for saying what the Bible teaches about sex and gender. Liberals worry that police now decide which words are allowed at a permitted event and fear the same power could silence criticism of corporations, government, or powerful interests someday. Both groups see a system where ordinary people get lectured by officials while the “elites” rarely face real consequences.

Courts have long warned against “heckler’s veto” situations, where police shut down speakers because others complain. Yet this Fort Worth video shows an officer saying complaints about “offensive” speech alone could trigger a ticket, and a follow-up clip from 2025 appears to show similar behavior by the same officer. That pattern adds to a larger worry: even when the law on paper protects free speech, the way it is enforced on the street can still chill people into silence. Training sessions and press releases may help, but they do not fully fix the deeper trust gap many citizens now feel.