Mike Johnson’s extreme anti-gay past keeps getting darker

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s resume hits all of the homophobic touchstones: railing against same-sex marriage, pushing to criminalize gay sex, likening gays to pedophiles.

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise the Louisiana Republican also partnered with a group that pushed anti-gay conversion therapy.

When it comes to demonizing LGBTQ+ people, Johnson knows no bottom!

CNN reports Johnson provided legal advice to an organization called Exodus International, a leader in the “ex-gay” movement. The group also promoted a national school theme day meant to demean homosexuals.

That’s right: As a counter to GLSEN’s “Day of Silence,” which spreads awareness about the impact of bullying on LGBTQ+ youth, Exodus International launched an event called the “Day of Truth.” The idea was for homophobes to counter that silence by distributing anti-gay propaganda.

Sounds pretty repugnant, huh?! Johnson was all-in.

“I mean, our race, the size of our feet, the color of our eyes, these are things we’re born with and we cannot change,” he said in a 2008 radio interview.

“What these adult advocacy groups like the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network are promoting is a type of behavior. Homosexual behavior is something you do, it’s not something that you are.”

Those words definitely sound like homophobic bingo! Notably, Johnson worked with Exodus International from 2006 to 2010, which really wasn’t very long ago!

The 51-year-old was actively promoting the harassment of LGBTQ+ youth well into adulthood.

Johnson consulted with Exodus International on behalf of the conservative anti-gay legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund.

In a recent interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, he tried to spin his record and make it sound like he was just a humble attorney doing his job.

“I was a litigator that was called upon to defend the state marriage amendments,” he said. “I made a career defending the rule of law, I respect the rule of law.”

Still, Johnson made sure to rail against the Obergefell decision, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

“They changed the definition of marriage that had been regarded by every human society for about 5,000 years. But when five justices on the Supreme Court changed it, that became the law of the land,” he said.

A homophobic can only hide for so long before his true colors shine through.

Make no mistake: Johnson’s true colors are vehemently anti-LGBTQ+. In newspaper editorials, he’s called homosexuality an “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous lifestyle” that would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy “the entire democratic system.”

In another, he rails against anti-discrimination laws, saying “we don’t give special protections for every person’s bizarre choices.”

CNN dug up an interview in which Johnson blames gay sex 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,” he said in the aforementioned interview.

I bet he’s a “graduate” of said conversion. Just wait for it.— He’s Incredible Math (@RetroTacoKings) November 2, 2023

Not a good man— Patsh (@Patsh87174537) November 2, 2023

As a congressman, Johnson has championed a national version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. He says the “Democrat Party and their cultural allies are on a misguided crusade to immerse young children in sexual imagery and radical gender ideology.”

Back in the mid-2000s, he argued that gay marriage “is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”

Yeesh. His wife, for those wondering, is equally hateful. Kelly Johnson runs an organization called Onward Christian Counseling Services, which compares being gay to bestiality and incest.

When Exodus International dissolved in 2013, its founder publicly apologized for the “pain and hurt” his organization caused.

Johnson, unsurprisingly, hasn’t expressed similar remorse.