Mike Johnson says his pals would use trans laws to spy on naked girls

A recently unearthed video from 2016 shows anti-LGBTQ+ House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) saying that his high school friends would’ve used transgender-inclusive school policies to lie about their gender so they could watch high school girls undress and shower in locker rooms.

His statement repeated right-wing lies about trans-inclusivity threatening the safety of kids. For over a decade, conservatives have claimed that trans-inclusive bathroom policies will result in cisgender men sexually assaulting women and girls in public toilets, but there is no evidence to suggest this whatsoever.

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In his 2016 interview with KEEL, an AM talk-news radio station, Johnson said, “Gender identity, no one knows what that means, and even an effort to define … can cause more problems.”

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“I went to Captain Shreve High School,” Johnson continued. “I graduated in 1990. My crew, my boys… I can tell you, they would’ve said, ‘Hey, next Thursday is gender identity day, man. You know, we’re going to self-identify as girls, and we’re going to be in the other locker room.’ It opens it up to high jinks and all sorts of problems.”

In essence, Johnson argued that trans people shouldn’t have rights because his friends were willing to violate female privacy for their own sexual pleasure. His argument would be laughable if it wasn’t so often invoked as a reason to deny trans people’s basic civil right to pee in peace.

There is no evidence that trans-inclusive bathroom and locker room policies increase safety risks, according to a 2018 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. States already have laws banning sexual assault in bathrooms under any circumstances, and none of the cities and states that have passed trans-inclusive bathroom policies have seen increases in bathroom assaults as a result.

“Research has shown that transgender people are frequently denied access, verbally harassed or physically assaulted while trying to use public restrooms,” one of the study’s authors, Jody L. Herman, told NBC News.

Florida is the only U.S. state that explicitly bans trans people from using facilities consistent with their gender identity in all schools, colleges, and government-owned buildings and spaces. Their law doesn’t apply to private businesses.

While eight other states have policies banning trans people from using K-12 school facilities that match their gender identity, the 41 other U.S. states, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia all have no bans on trans-inclusive bathroom use, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

Johnson’s long, continuing history of anti-LGBTQ+ comments

Johnson himself is on the board of a conservative Christian publishing company that says MPOX is the “appropriate penalty” for being gay. His wife, Kelly, runs a Christian counseling service that compared LGBTQ+ identities to bestiality on its website. In an October 3 call with the World Prayer Network, Johnson said that America is “dark and depraved” because there are too many LGBTQ+ people.

Mike and Kelly Johnson have complained about the non-existent “lesbian toys” in Disney’s Toy Story 4, criticized “woke corporations” like Bud Light and “satanic” Disney, and praised anti-transgender broadcaster Matt Walsh during Pride Month on their podcast this year.

Johnson has previously said that same-sex marriage will lead to “chaos and sexual anarchy” and “place our entire democratic system in jeopardy by eroding its foundation.” He claimed legalizing same-sex marriage would lead to “pedophiles” seeking legal protections for having sex with kids and people trying to marry their pets. He has also said, “Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural… ultimately harmful and costly for everyone.”

He has sought to criminalize private gay sex between consenting adults, called gay marriage the “harbinger of chaos,” and said gay people should not be a protected class because they “are capable of changing their abnormal lifestyles.” He also believed the fall of ancient Rome was caused by “rampant homosexual behavior.” 

Johnson previously served as a senior attorney and national spokesman for the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), filing lawsuits against same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption, and same-sex marital benefits. When recently asked about his numerous anti-LGBTQ positions, Johnson told a Fox News interviewer that he didn’t remember some of them.