SW News: American pastor Rich Penkoski, the founder of the online ministry Warriors for Christ, has filed an appeal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court against a five-year gag order that forbids him from speaking out against a local LGBTQ advocacy organization and threatens him with imprisonment if he does so.

Penkoski claimed he was asked to speak against a Pride event in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, last October since no other churches in the area opposed the march. The pastor also shared a picture of the same-sex wedding of Sheena Hayes and Morgan Lawrence-Hayes, the executive board president of the Bartlesville chapter of Oklahomans for Equality, and a verse from Romans 1:32 that condemns homosexuality: "And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

The preacher also quoted Matthew 18:6, where Jesus states, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and drown in the depths of the sea."

According to Fox News, the couple obtained a five-year restraining order in response to Penkoski's internet threats and harassment charges. The preacher was accused of using bestial language during his address at the Pride event, which he vehemently rejected. The pastor said that throughout his legal battle with the LGBTQ group, he got several death threats, and his property was wrecked.

According to court records, this has caused the plaintiffs substantial mental anguish, and the judge has decided that the pastor may no longer refer to them in his sermons.