Bible preacher allegedly hounded a waiter for his sexual orientation for months. But now he faces a judgment of his own: ‘You should be in hell’

A street preacher spent the summer of 2025 turning his Bible sermons against a homosexual waiter working a café terrace in central Vigo, causing him to eventually quit. 

The preacher, 39, is due in court at 10:45 a.m. on September 29, 2026, when the Vigo-based fifth section of the Provincial Court of Pontevedra takes up the case at a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors want the preacher jailed for 18 months on two charges, one a hate crime and the other an offense against moral integrity (per Público).

The altercations, if it could be called that since it was one-sided according to the reports, happened in Calle del Príncipe, one of the busiest streets in the city center. From June through August 2025, the man preached there several days a week, near the Mamá Elvira café. The prosecutors allege that he repeatedly singled out the waiter for being gay. 

The filing quotes him at length. “You should be in hell, you should repent, otherwise God will judge you in the kingdom,” he reportedly told the waiter, according to Europa Press. Other lines quotes in the indictment include “homosexuals, you will go to hell” and a warning that “homosexuals and lesbians will be punished” and barred from “the kingdom of God.” (via Infobae)

There was an instant when the preacher pointed at the waiter and shouted at him to repent, using anti-gay slur, and to “kneel before God,” VigoÉ reported. That was among the particularly aggressive episodes.

As the prosecutors tell it, the setting of this hateful rhetoric was as damaging as the words. The waiter felt “exposed to the mockery of those who were there,” since the sermons were delivered loudly in the middle of the street.

The case prosecutors are presenting to the court

Prison is only part of the request. Prosecutors are also seeking a €3,000 fine, plus another €3,000 to compensate the waiter for emotional harm. They want the court to treat discrimination based on sexual orientation as an aggravating factor, and to keep the man out of teaching, sports, and leisure work for six and a half years. 

It’s worth bearing in mind that none of the allegations has been tested in court, and the reports have failed to include a response from the defense. 

Spain’s Criminal Code has a clause that protects minorities and criminalizes any humiliating and belittling behavior towards these groups. Sexual orientation is among the things that the act mentions. If convicted, an offender looks at six months to two years in prison, plus a fine billed monthly.

In Europe, per ILGA-Europe, 35 of the some 50 countries (depending on how you count it) have similar hate speech laws that cover sexual orientation.