LGBTQ+ advocates are voicing concerns about the election of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as the new House speaker.

Johnson has a history of taking anti-LGBTQ+ positions, including opposing same-sex marriage, gay sex and transgender health care for children. 

After Johnson was chosen to succeed Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted as speaker more than three weeks earlier, Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ civil rights group, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the Louisiana Republican “is someone who doesn’t hesitate to scream his hatred for the LGBTQ+ community from the rooftops while introducing legislation that seeks to erase us from society and history. Everyone who voted for him will have a stain on their record.”

Allen Morris, policy director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, said in a statement, “I would be hard-pressed to think of a worse member to be elected speaker of the house, not simply for LGBTQ communities, but for the American people.”

Morris said many of his relatives have lived in Johnson’s district and the new speaker’s “track record on civil rights and minority issues is clear and stark as our community continues to find itself under attack.”

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., chairman of the Congressional Equality Caucus, issued a statement calling Johnson an extreme Republican who “has dedicated his career to attacking LGBTQI+ people and pushing an anti-equality agenda.”

“The House has already taken more than 10 anti-equality votes this Congress,” Pocan said. “By electing Mike Johnson—a vehement opponent of LGBTQI+ equality—as Speaker, his supporters have signaled they want these attacks against our community to continue.”

The Equality Caucus includes nearly 200 members, all Democrats.

In Congress, Johnson introduced a bill that would have blocked federal funds from going to any program, event or literature in which sexual orientation or gender identity were mentioned to children under the age of 10. The legislation drew comparisons to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” 

He also has co-sponsored bills that would make it a felony to perform gender-affirming care on a minor and ban anyone receiving federal funds from allowing athletes who were assigned male at birth to compete against females.

In addition, Johnson has voted against legislation aimed at prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and protecting the recognition by states of same-sex marriages.

As a member of the Louisiana Legislature, he proposed a bill to allow businesses to refuse services for same-sex weddings and deny benefits to employees in same-sex marriages if doing so conflicted with religious beliefs.

Before entering politics, Johnson was an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, known today as Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization that advocates for religious freedom and other issues. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated it a hate group for its anti-LGBTQ+ positions.

As first reported by CNN on Wednesday, Johnson wrote multiple opinion pieces in the Shreveport Times when he worked for the Alliance Defense Fund that expressed hostile views toward LGBTQ+ people.

In a July 2003 op-ed criticizing the Supreme Court for striking down anti-sodomy laws, Johnson wrote: “Homosexuals do not meet the criteria for a suspect class under the equal protection clause because they are neither disadvantaged nor identified on the basis of immutable characteristics, as all are capable of changing their abnormal lifestyles.”

In September 2004, Johnson wrote an editorial in support of a proposed amendment to the Louisiana Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman. In it, he called same-sex marriage “inherently unnatural” and said legalizing it would “place our entire democratic system in jeopardy by eroding its foundation.”

“If we change marriage for this tiny, modern minority, we will have to do it for every deviant group,” he wrote. “Polygamists, polyamorists, pedophiles, and others will be next in line to claim equal protection.”

And in a July 2005 editorial, Johnson argued against laws preventing employment discrimination in Shreveport on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. 

“Your race, creed and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do,” he wrote. “This is a free country, but we don’t give special protections for every person’s bizarre choices.”

Just before voting for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker on Wednesday, Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., wished a happy anniversary to her wife. 

Shortly after, she posted on X: “Mike Johnson spent his legal career fighting against same-sex marriage, adoption and marital benefits. Now he’s brought that fight to Congress. Proud to vote against him on my 15th anniversary with my wife, Cheryl.”

Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., wrote on X on Wednesday night: “To members of the LGBTQ+ community who are feeling terrified or depressed tonight reading about some of the things that Speaker Mike Johnson has said in the past, please know you are not alone. We are with you and we will never stop fighting for you.”

Johnson’s office has not responded to an email from Spectrum News seeking comment for this article.

In congratulating Johnson, many House Republicans have praised his family and conservative values and his commitment to protecting religious liberty.