Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has faced criticism since he was elected speaker of the House because of his history of extreme anti-LGBTQ+ statements and his work for an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. Now he’s claiming that no one could possibly believe that he is full of hate because he’s a Christian.
Speaking on Fox News, Johnson said that there are “entire industries” built to “take down… effective political leaders like me,” and he lamented that people aren’t getting to know him as a person first.
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“I’m not trying to establish Christianity as the national religion or something,” he said in a mocking tone. “That’s not what this is about.”
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“If you truly believe in the Bible’s commands and you seek to follow those, it is impossible to be a hateful person!” he continued. “It’s the greatest command in the Bible that you love God with everything you have and you love your neighbor as yourself.”
Before he was elected to Congress, Johnson was senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, an SPLC-designated hate group. In his position at ADL, he filed briefs asking courts to allow states to criminalize homosexuality and argued against allowing same-sex couples to marry.
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.”
Johnson recently said that such extreme statements were so banal to him that he doesn’t “even remember” them.
Johnson also removed 69 episodes of his and his wife’s podcast Truth Be Told With Mike and Kelly Johnson from his website. The pair dedicated June 2023 to praising anti-transgender activist Matt Walsh, who blamed the Club Q mass shooting on “men [who] crossdress in front of children” and said that he called for several boycotts of brands selling rainbow products this year in order to make the concept of Pride “toxic.” The Johnsons also got mad at Disney for “forcing a radical woke agenda” and “openly Satanic programming” on children.
Last year, Johnson introduced a federal version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law called the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act.” The bill threatens to cut federal funding to libraries, school districts, hospitals, government entities, or other organizations for “hosting or promoting any program, event, or literature involving sexually-oriented material,” including “any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related topics.”
His wife also runs a Christian counseling service that says that LGBTQ+ identities are “sexual immorality” comparable to bestiality and incest.
When questioned about his anti-LGBTQ+ views, Johnson said that his worldview was “Go pick up a Bible.”
“This is not about the people themselves. I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘People are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe, and so I make no apologies for it.”
On X, many people weren’t buying Johnson’s claim that being commanded to love his neighbor means that he actually loves his neighbor.