With his speakership already collapsing, Mike Johnson resorts to bashing gay high schoolers

A homophobe can only hide for so long.

Ever since Mike Johnson’s improbable ascension to House Speaker, the Louisiana Republican has tried to mask his virulent anti-gay past. Despite clamoring for the reintroduction of sodomy laws and calling homosexuality a “dangerous lifestyle,” Johnson now says he “loves” gay people.

But his tone changes when he needs to raise money.

In a new fundraising email, Johnson abandons his pretense of moderation, and dives right back into gay-bashing.

His target, you ask?

LGBTQ+ high school students, of course!

“1 in 4 high school students identifies as something other than straight,” Johnson frets in the email. “What are they being taught in school?”

“Our culture has fallen so far since the founding of our country, and it’s just getting worse. I fear America may be beyond redemption.”

The message was sent via the National Republican Campaign Committee, the primary campaign arm of House Republicans.

Johnson appears to be referencing 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says 25.7% of high school students don’t identify as straight. Of those, 3.2% identify as gay or lesbian, 11.9% identifier as bisexual and 9% identify as something else, or are questioning.

His doomsday rhetoric in the aforementioned email isn’t anything new. In previous editorials, Johnson has warned homosexuality would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy “the entire democratic system.”

In an old interview with CNN, the religious zealot blamed gay sex for the downfall 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.

Johnson, in his fundraising email, says America could face God’s wrath for the existence of queer teenagers.

“Let’s face it- we live in a depraved culture,” he writes. “I didn’t want to believe it at first, but I fear God may allow our nation to enter into a time of judgment for our collective sins. We have much to repent for if we want to avoid the judgment we so clearly deserve.”

Keep in mind, this is how the person who’s second in line for the presidency talks about America.

Prior to joining Congress, Johnson worked on campaigns designed to isolate LGBTQ+ high schoolers. He provided legal advice to an organization called Exodus International, a leader in the “ex-gay” movement.

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.

During his days as a conservative attorney, Johnson represented a group that endorses conversion therapy, as well as extremists who said the government should terrorize LGBTQ+ people.

One of Johnson’s former clients, radical Christian preacher Grant Storms, staged a violent protest in 2003 against New Orleans’ Southern Decadence, an annual celebration of LGBTQ+ people. One of the attendees attempted to murder a man with a five-inch steak knife.

The stabber admitted in a recorded confession he “wanted to kill a gay man.”

Following that episode, Storms spoke at an event called the “International Conference on Homo-Fascism” (where’s our invite?) and invoked violent imagery. Years later, he was arrested for masturbating in his van near a playground.

Johnson, for those wondering, didn’t represent him in that criminal matter.

This man shouldn’t be in any position of power— Christine Galea (@chrisgalea) December 5, 2023

Johnson rose to MAGA prominence when he represented Trump in two separate senate impeachment trials. The former backbencher also played a leading effort in the ex-president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Last month, he promised to release the remaining 44,000 hours of January 6 footage. On Tuesday, he said he was blurring the faces of some of the participants, to protect them from legal jeopardy.

Republicans are aaaaall about law and order, huh?

Johnson also supports Republicans’ efforts to impeach President Biden.

Despite all of his Trumpist pandering, the Speaker’s agenda is already blowing up in his face. Following his support of a stopgap funding bill, members of the far-right are already warning Johnson his honeymoon is over.

Tough break for a swell guy. Some good ol’ fashioned homophobia probably can’t even save him.