As a lawyer in Louisiana and then as an elected politician, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., has spent most of his life trying to save America and the world from the "destructive" influence of gay culture, which he apparently believes is more harmful to democracy than helping Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Now speaker of the House, the Louisiana Republican is for the first time presiding over the chamber during Pride Month, an occasion he has not noted in any public statement. Critics would argue his record speaks for itself.
Johnson's vehement opposition to anything gay puts him on the far right of even the current Republican caucus, which includes members who claim to be welcoming of the LGBTQ community. But he's also the Republican leader at a time when his party has stepped up its attacks on trans people, in word and deed. As someone who has worked to thwart "the homosexual agenda's assault on the traditional family" since his time as a young lawyer, Johnson is not likely to moderate his stance now — and his ascendancy suggests that Donald Trump's GOP is okay with that.
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After graduating from law school, Johnson worked as a counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a socially conservative advocacy organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group. There, his expertise appeared to be centered on the legal punishment of homosexuality. Before the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that laws prohibiting private, consensual sex between adults were unconstitutional, Johnson helped write an amicus brief to oppose such a decision. And when the battleground shifted........