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With Johnson's record on LGBTQ+ rights, is it a surprise?
Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected Republican Speaker of the House, and his wife, Kelly Johnson, have come under scrutiny due to their shared ultra-conservative Christian beliefs, especially those regarding LGBTQ+ issues and the counseling service Kelly Johnson runs.
HuffPost reports that Kelly Johnson operates Onward Christian Counseling Services, a counseling firm that, in its operational documents, equates homosexuality with bestiality and incest.
The couple has been in the public eye since the late 1990s when they championed Louisiana’s marriage covenant law, aiming to make divorces more challenging to obtain. Their collaborative ventures continue to this day; they co-host a podcast titled Truth Be Told, wherein they discuss social and political issues from a conservative Christian standpoint.
With a collection of 69 episodes thus far, the podcast reflects their long-standing partnership in personal and ministerial endeavors.
Mike Johnson, having spent eight years as the senior attorney and national spokesperson for a legal nonprofit associated with religious conservative causes, is open about his evangelical Christian identity. In a recent conversation with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Johnson made no apologies for his faith, urging listeners to read the Bible to understand his worldview.
On her business’s website, Kelly Johnson not only promotes the couple’s podcast but also shares a link to the 2017 operating agreement of Onward Christian Counseling Services, according to HuffPost. This document reveals the company’s stringent beliefs on sexual immorality, placing homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender identity in the same bracket as bestiality and incest. It also vehemently defends the sanctity of life “from conception through natural death.”
“We believe and the Bible teaches that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography or any attempt to change one’s sex, or disagreement with one’s biological sex, is sinful and offensive to God,” the document states.
The agreement, notarized by Speaker Johnson in 2017, raises questions regarding how much these beliefs might influence his political decisions, especially given his role as a constitutional lawyer with a history of opposing LGBTQ+ and women’s rights in court. Although, in a recent interview, Johnson acknowledged the Supreme Court’s authority in legalizing same-sex marriage, the clarity regarding his stance on LGBTQ+ issues and how they might impact his policy advocacy remains obscure.
The shift in societal attitudes towards LGBTQ+ rights, marked by a Gallup poll showing 71 percent support for same-sex marriage, contrasts sharply with the Johnsons’ expressed views, which HuffPost notes is more in line with early 2000s-era Republican platforms.
As Speaker Johnson steps into a role that places him second in line to the presidency, concerns mount about the potential for his religious beliefs to intersect with legislative endeavors. In a recent podcast episode, the Johnsons tackled the topic of religious freedom and the separation of church and state, a discourse following Johnson’s House floor speech in April criticizing the “so-called separation of church and state.”
Harvard law instructor Alejandra Caraballo, who is transgender, put a fine point on the Johnson counseling services.
“Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, has a wife who is a conversion therapist,” Caraballo wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “She actively engages in the psychological torture of LGBTQ people.”
https://x.com/Esqueer_/status/1718279489145188501?...
