He’s now the most powerful elected Republican in the nation, second in line to the presidency, and the third most-powerful elected official in the country, but just five years ago Mike Johnson was a freshman U.S. Congressman from Louisiana who had made a name for himself as an attorney fighting for far-right Christian causes.
In 2018, U.S. Rep. Johnson was scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at a Bible conference hosted by infamous “Kill the Gays” Pastor Kevin Swanson, as this social media post from Brian Tashman, formerly of Right Wing Watch/People for the American Way showed in April of that year:
Swanson, who supported Uganda’s “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” that called for LGBTQ people to be executed or face life in prison, made headlines in 2015 for saying gay people should be put to death.
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As Right Wing Watch has reported, Swanson has called HIV/AIDS, “God’s retribution.” He has “defended Uganda’s kill-the-gays bill, warned that the Girl Scouts, women’s soccer and movies like ‘Frozen’ turn girls into lesbians, and accused gay people of causing devastating floods and hurricanes.”
Swanson also “frequently claimed that the government should put gay people to death,” Right Wing Watch had also reported, “and blamed natural disasters on gay people and women who wear pants.” He urged “people to hold up signs telling gay couples to die on their wedding day, and agreed “that gay marriage is like the Sandy Hook school massacre.”
Johnson had been slated to deliver a speech titled, “The Bible: Equipping the Man of God for Politics and the Culture War,” at Swanson’s Bible Family Conference. He also has ties to at least two groups designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as anti-LGBTQ hate groups: the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council.
“Throughout my career,” Johnson wrote in a 2018 Facebook photo, standing with anti-gay hate group leader Tony Perkins, “I have worked tirelessly to support legislation that protects conservative values of faith, family and freedom.”
“This week, I was honored by the Family Research Council with the True Blue Award for my vote on critical bills that protect life and promote fiscal responsibility.”
NCRM published a report on May 1, 2018, on Congressman Johnson being scheduled to deliver the keynote address, and before publication reached out to the Congressman’s office but did not receive a response – until after our article ran.
Here’s the update we published the following day, May 2, 2018:
Rep. Johnson’s office responded to our inquiry. They first claimed:
“Congressman Johnson was invited to speak to a Christian conference in August. He was unaware of Mr. Swanson’s participation and of his previous comments. Once this was brought to the congressman’s attention, he immediately denounced those comments and withdrew his participation.”
When NCRM replied, noting there was no record of Rep. Johnson denouncing Swanson’s remarks, Johnson’s office responded: “The Congressman was asked by a friend not associated with Swanson or his organization to join a Bible conference in D.C. Once he learned of Swanson’s connection to the conference he immediately withdrew his participation.”
After NCRM’s article ran, Johnson’s name was removed from the schedule at Swanson’s Bible Family Conference.
It does not appear Speaker Johnson has ever denounced extremist anti-LGBTQ hate.
In a separate May 2 article, NCRM reported, “Rep. Johnson still appears to support the anti-LGBT movement. Last week he posted praise for his ‘good friend, law school classmate and former colleague, Kyle Duncan, on his confirmation today to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.'”
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LGBT civil rights group Lambda Legal calls Duncan, “a lawyer who has built his career around pursuing extreme positions that target members of the LGBTQ community.”
This week, on Thursday, speaking to Fox News, Johnson said: “Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘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.”
Watch Johnson’s remarks below or at this link.