New speaker Mike Johnson and his wife, Kelly, gave a joint interview to Fox News over the weekend. They spoke to Kayleigh McEnany about how Johnson’s meteoric rise to Speaker of the House has impacted his family.
McEnany asked how they were handling the increased media attention on their lives and beliefs, particularly when it focuses on Kelly Johnson.
Mike Johnson said he is fair game. However, smiling politely, he said his wife should be out of bounds.
“As a husband, you know, I’ll take any arrows, that’s fine. But don’t talk about my wife, for goodness’ sake. She’s the kindest, sweetest person in the world.”
Onward Christian Counseling
The couple have long been active within the Louisiana Southern Baptist community. Mike Johnson has previously worked as an attorney for Christian organizations battling against LGBTQ+ rights. Kelly Johnson is a former teacher turned Christian counselor.
Last week, the website for her ‘Onward Christian Counseling Services’ was taken down. It came after HuffPost reported it contained a link to the service’s 2017 operating agreement. This made it clear the founder believes sex is offensive if outside of a marriage between a man and woman. It offered “homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest” as examples of sins offensive to God.
Onward offers a form of “Temperament counseling”. Loosely based on the teachings of the Greek physician Hippocrates, it splits people into the categories: Melancholy, Choleric, Sanguine, Supine, and Phlegmatic.
Speaking about her husband’s new role as speaker, Kelly Johnson told McEnany that she believed “God has placed him here. It’s Biblical. The Bible says he raises up leaders and he brings them down.”
Mike Johnson’s wife Kelly just responded after it was revealed her “Christian Counseling Services” compare gay people to bestiality and say sex out of wedlock “offends God.”
She said she “felt burdened for so many people” & says “God” made Mike Johnson Speaker. “It’s Biblical.” pic.twitter.com/Ar00R7F50R— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) November 3, 2023
Asked how her kids are dealing with their dad’s heightened profile, Kelly said, “They’re doing pretty well. I think they’re also still in shock ‘cause it’s still so new, but they’re proud of their dad and they’re excited.”
Fall of the Roman Empire
Johnson’s kids may have to quickly adapt to the increased media attention. Rolling Stone reports that in a public appearance last year, Mike Johnson revealed he and his 17-year-old son are each other’s “Accountability Partners”. This entails downloading software to their phones so that each can check what the other has been looking at or doing online.
Other resurfaced clips of Johnson continue to emerge. In a radio interview in 2008, Johnson said a rise in homosexual behavior was partly to blame for the fall of the Roman Empire.
“Some credit to the fall of Rome to not only the deprivation of the society and the loss of morals, but also to the rampant homosexual behavior that was condoned by the society,” Johnson said.
The claim left at least one gay, Democratic lawmaker stunned.
The new Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson, once said that the Roman Empire collapsed because it condoned “rampant homosexual behavior.”
His sense of history is as horrendous as his homophobia.— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) November 5, 2023
It’s not just Democrats that have concerns about Speaker Johnson’s views. The Hill reports that some GOP Senators have concerns about Johnson launching a legislative, federal attack on abortion ahead of the 2024 election. They believe that the backlash to the Supreme Court revoking Roe vs. Wade, and the hardline anti-abortion stance of some Republicans, cost them votes in 2022.
“I’m still trying to figure out what his real priorities are,”” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told The Hill.
“Based on some of the conversations we’ve had in our conference, there’s been a lot of discussion about the political implications of a vote on abortion that would basically federalize, outlaw abortions. It would be viewed as not politically helpful.”
