Evangelist and missionary Ryan Schiavo was arrested in London on July 22 for teaching that homosexuality is a sin.
The Christian Post (CP), published an interview with Schiavo in which he described the circumstances that led up to his arrest.
"I was preaching the Gospel on the streets as I frequently do, but it was about a 30-minute message, and in the course of a long message I can touch on many topics that I believe are pertinent," he recalled.
"At one point, I talked about the issue of homosexuality and transgenderism. I said that homosexuality is a sin; I talk about how it's destructive, and the damage the transgender agenda is doing to children right now in the schools because it's being pushed on children at a very young age here, " he continued.
Schiavo explained to CP that one of his sermon points was that "the churches that have rainbow flags on them" were "not real churches." His speech enraged one young lady, whom he assumed could be a "lesbian."
In Schiavo's words, she was "very upset at what I had said, and so she called the police and the police came."
CP reports that when Schiavo was arrested, he was "put in a cell for 10 hours and given a mental health evaluation by the National Health Service before being released in the middle of the night."
Schiavo believes that the fact that he was subjected to a mental health exam demonstrates how bad things have gotten in the United Kingdom in terms of freedom of expression and religious freedom.
"All these institutions are working together with each other; they're anti-Christ," he told CP. "It's time for the church to wake up and to be prepared for persecution. Freedom of speech and expression are very much under attack in the Western world, and I'm concerned that many of these Western countries are becoming communist."
Linda Thacker, who filmed the arrest, claimed there had been clashes between Schiavo, his followers, and LGBT people.
In the video, Schiavo was subjected to hatred after his remarks on homosexuality, but was also defended, even by an atheist. Despite not agreeing with Schiavo's statements on homosexuality, the atheist reportedly stated that "this man (Schiavo) has not done anything warranting... an arrest, he's just exercising his freedom of speech."
Nonetheless, the police arrested and imprisoned Schiavo. Both Schiavo and Thacker believe that the police performed a biased investigation.
Schiavo explained that police officers in the United Kingdom are "so trained to hear 'homosexuality' or 'Islam' because those are the two most protected demographics in Britain right now."
He added that in the United Kingdom, "you cannot speak against homosexuality or transgenderism, and you cannot speak against Islam."
According to the street preacher, anybody who mentions such phrases in a negative way will be charged with a "hate crime."
Schiavo's arrest places him "in the national police records for three years," according to CP, and he's now working with the Christian Legal Centre in the UK to "get this overturned."
Schiavo maintained that he had not committed a crime that should be recorded in the police records.
"It is not a crime in the U.K. to say homosexuality is a sin in public or to say that churches with rainbow flags on them are not churches. This is protected speech," he said.
