The Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) is calling on the NYPD to take swift action after a viral video shared on Instagram Oct. 26 appeared to show an officer using an anti-gay slur. In the video, posted by the Instagram user @skymilezz, an officer sitting in a police vehicle at a red light speaks into a loudspeaker, saying, “suck my d*ck, f****t.” Brian Downey, an NYPD detective and president of GOAL, told Gay City News in a phone interview he was “completely disgusted” when a member of GOAL brought the incident to his attention.
We condemn such behavior because it is reprehensible and a severe violation of the trust and expectations we have for our fellow law enforcement professionals. This incident reminds us of the ongoing prejudices that persist within our society, and the ease with which some resort to hate speech. We refuse to remain silent. We are committed to ensuring that all LGBTQIA+ individuals, both within or outside the law enforcement community, are treated with respect and dignity. The Department’s investigation is already underway and GOAL will continue to monitor this situation closely. We expect the results of that investigation to lead to appropriate disciplinary action in line with the NYPD’s professional standards.
The wife of newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) runs a counseling business that advocates the belief that homosexuality is comparable to bestiality and incest, according to its operating documents.
Johnson and his wife, Kelly, have long intertwined their political and business lives: They became a known entity in the late 1990s when they went on national television as the face of Louisiana’s new marriage covenant law, which makes it harder to get a divorce. Today, they co-host a podcast, “Truth Be Told,” where they talk about political and social issues from a conservative Christian perspective. Their podcast is up to 69 episodes.
“We have been working in ministry side by side and together for our whole marriage,” Johnson said last year when he and his wife launched their podcast, in an interview with The Message, a website that connects members of the Louisiana Southern Baptist community.
The House speaker’s identity as an evangelical Christian has been a driving force in his personal life and his career, which includes eight years as the senior attorney and national spokesperson for a legal nonprofit affiliated with the religious right.
“Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it ― that’s my worldview,” Johnson told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in a Thursday night interview. “That’s what I believe, and so I make no apologies for it.”
Kelly Johnson features the couple’s podcast on the website of her company, Onward Christian Counseling Services, which promotes Bible-based pastoral counseling. Her website also includes a link to its 2017 operating agreement, which lays out the corporate bylaws for the company ― and embraces a number of socially conservative beliefs about LGBTQ+ people and women’s reproductive rights.
The agreement states that Onward Christian Counseling Services is grounded in the belief that sex is offensive to God if it is not between a man and a woman married to each other. It puts being gay, bisexual or transgender in the same category as someone who has sex with animals or family members, calling all of these examples of “sexual immorality.”
“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,” says the eight-page business document.
This agreement also refers to “pre-born babies” and says the company is committed to defending and protecting all human life, “from conception through natural death.”
Speaker Johnson’s signature is on the last page. He notarized the document on July 1, 2017. Notaries are not required to read the documents they notarize and are sometimes discouraged from doing so for privacy reasons.
Here’s a copy of the operating agreement.
Comparing homosexuality to bestiality and incest was relatively common among Republicans in the early 2000s, when the party made battling same-sex marriage a central issue during President George W. Bush’s reelection bid in 2004. Then-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) famously made the comparison in 2003, suggesting a Supreme Court case striking down state bans on sodomy would open the door to “man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.”
Kelly Johnson’s document was drawn up two years after that.
It’s not clear whether Speaker Johnson, who is a constitutional lawyer and has a long record of attacking LGBTQ+ and women’s rights in the courts, believes that homosexuality is akin to bestiality and incest, and that life begins at conception. More importantl it’s not clear whether the Louisiana Republican plans to use the power of the speakership to advocate for policy changes that reflect these kinds of ideologically extreme conservative Christian principles.
In his Thursday interview with Hannity, Johnson said the Supreme Court “changed the definition of marriage that had been used by every human society for 5,000 years,” while also signaling he accepts the legal ruling.
“When five justices changed it, that became the law of the land,” he said.
A Johnson spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
“We have been working in ministry side by side and together for our whole marriage,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says of his wife, with whom he co-hosts a podcast about political and social issues from a conservative Christian perspective.
It’s not a leap to suggest that Johnson, who is now second in line to the presidency, would try to connect his religious beliefs to his work on Capitol Hill.
In one of their most recent podcast episodes, on Sept. 8, Johnson and his wife discuss “How to Stand for Religious Freedom & Address the ‘Separation of Church and State.’” That episode came after a speech Johnson gave on the House floor in April in which he decried the “so-called separation of church and state” and insisted the Constitution does not bar the government from supporting religious beliefs.
“The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around,” Johnson said in his floor remarks.
Caroline Ciccone, president of Accountable.US, a nonprofit that examines power and influence in Washington, said the fact that Johnson is now the House speaker means there will be “more attempts to force a far-right agenda on everyday Americans.”
“The more we learn about Speaker Mike Johnson, the worse it gets,” Ciccone said. “His extensive far-right voting record and history of radical anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion statements make him one of the most extreme members of the House MAGA majority.”
Canadians came out in force to rally behind trans youth and protest a policy which would see youngsters forcefully outed to their parents.
Hundreds of people, including trans kids and their supportive families, gathered in the Saskatchewan cities of Saskatoon, Regina and Lloydminster in opposition to Bill 137, also known as the Parent’s Bill of Rights.
The legislation, which became law last week, was introduced by Saskatchewan Party education minister Jeremy Cockrill last week and outlines a number of rights parents have regarding their children’s education, including access to the pupil’s school file and being able to see what sexual-health content is being taught.
Controversially, the bill also contains a policy stating parental consent must be given for a pupil to use “their preferred name, gender identity, and/or gender expression” at school.
Speaking with the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, rally co-organizer Blake Tait said: “Children deserve a space where they feel safe, included and affirmed.
“We know this will not always be their homes: Give children their schools.”
Tait told the newspaper he started his social transition when he was 14, by using a new name, pronouns and clothes at school.
Now 23, he said whilst the reaction of his immediate family was “lovely” his extended family’s response was less positive and left him “trapped in a hard place”.
“With the new legislation, more students will face this — and worse — with no choice in the matter,” Tait explained.
“No opportunity to go at their own pace […] Youth are going back into the closet, and youth are terrified for the lives of their friends.”
In an interview with CBC, one parent of a trans child – who moved from the UK to Saskatchewan a number of years ago – described the situation as “really awful and scary”.
“I thought we were in a progressive, safe community and province,” said Roberta Cain, whose son Silas is 15.
Cain’s son told the newspaper being “forced to come out can be so traumatizing and life-threatening” and so “having a safe place to experiment is such an important thing”.
“I am so hated for just existing and being who I am. So many younger kids who are finding out who they are and want to have a safe space are at such a risk because some people just don’t like us,” Silas said.
The policy will create “very real harms”
During the protest, Saskatoon city councillor Mairin Loewen addressed the crowd, telling them: “Kids are full humans. They’re not partial humans. They have the same rights as any other human, and those rights cannot be trumped or overridden by the political whims and desires of adults.”
She added there is “too much at stake” and “all need this sense of safety and freedom in order to be ourselves and to become ourselves”.
Loewen’s speech, quoted by LGBTQ Nation, continued: “The evidence is clear.
“This legislation is harmful. Expert after expert has been emerging to identify the risks of this legislation, and the very real harms it will create.”
The bill was passed after lawmakers involved section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a clause which gives provincial legislatures the ability to override parts of the charter for a period of five years.
In response to this move, human rights commissioner Heather Kuttai – who has a trans son – sent a letter to premier Scott Moe tending her immediate resignation.
“A child’s rights must always take precedence over a parent’s obligations and responsibilities. My first concern is that this [bill] is going to hurt kids,” Kuttai wrote, saying the policy is something she “cannot be a part of”.
Adding she does not want to be “associated with a provincial government that takes away the rights of children, especially vulnerable children”.
The unexpected elevation of fourth-term Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana to speaker of the House on Wednesday swiftly prompted unforgiving criticism and fresh scrutiny on the once obscure representative’s views on LGBTQ rights.
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, said Johnson would be “the most anti-equality” speaker in U.S. history.
“This is a choice that will be a stain on the record of everyone who voted for him,” Robinson said in a statement Wednesday. “Johnson is someone who doesn’t hesitate to express his disdain for the LGTBQ+ community from the rooftops and then introduces legislation that seeks to erase us from society.”
Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., one of the few openly gay members of Congress, appeared to take a jab at Johnson during the speaker vote on the House floor Wednesday, yelling, “Happy wedding anniversary to my wife!” before voting for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Even outspoken conservative Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had gripes with Johnson’s ascension to power.
“So we just elected a raging homophobe to speaker…..?” McCain wrote on X. “Way to break stereotypes and win over hearts and minds!”
A representative for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding criticisms of his views and prior comments on LGBTQ issues.
Until Wednesday, the Louisiana Republican was relatively unknown outside of Capitol Hill, having only joined Congress in 2017. But after the historic ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker and the failure of three other GOP members to clinch the House’s top job, Johnson — who has been called an “architect” of the effort to overturn the 2020 election — is suddenly second in line to the presidency.
Amicus briefs and op-eds
In the early 2000s, Johnson worked as an attorney and spokesperson for the evangelical Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, now known as the Alliance Defending Freedom. For decades, ADF — designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a designation the Arizona-based group disputes — spearheaded legal efforts to criminalize same-sex sexual activity, block efforts to legalize same-sex marriage, allow for businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people, and ban transgender people from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identities.
During his ADF tenure, Johnson sued the city of New Orleans in 2003 on behalf of the group over a local law that gave health care benefits to the partners of gay city workers.
That same year, he wrote a prominent amicus brief in the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, arguing in favor of allowing states to criminalize same-sex consensual sex. The brief argues that sex between men should be banned because it is more likely to spread sexually transmitted diseases than sex between men and women and therefore poses “a distinct public health problem.”
Shortly after the high court’s 2003 ruling in the landmark case, where it struck down the nation’s remaining anti-sodomy laws, Johnson wrote an editorial for The Times of Shreveport, Louisiana, in which he suggested decriminalizing gay sex could lead to the legalization of prostitution and illicit drug-use.
“There is clearly no ‘right to sodomy’ in the Constitution, and the right of ‘privacy of the home’ has never placed all activity within the home outside the bounds of the criminal law,” Johnson wrote at the time. “What about drugs, prostitution and counterfeiting? Make no mistake, the Lawrence decision opens the door to the undermining of many important laws and is ultimately a strategic first shot for the homosexual lobby’s ultimate prize — the redefinition of marriage.”
The following year, Johnson wrote another editorial in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Louisiana, suggesting that gay people marrying each other could prompt people to start marrying animals.
“Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural and, the studies clearly show, are ultimately harmful and costly for everyone,” he wrote. “Society cannot give its stamp of approval to such a dangerous lifestyle. If we change marriage for this tiny, modern minority, we will have to do it for every deviant group. Polygamists, polyamorists, pedophiles, and others will be next in line to claim equal protection. They already are. There will be no legal basis to deny a bisexual the right to marry a partner of each sex, or a person to marry his pet.”
In a separate op-ed that same year, Johnson said that “homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”
Support for same-sex marriage remains at an all-time high in the country. More than 70% of Americans support sax-sex marriage, according to a poll Gallup released in June, including 49% of Republicans.
Entering public office
In 2015, Johnson ran unopposed for a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. During his short stint as a state lawmaker, he introduced the Marriage and Conscience Act, which critics argued would allow people to discriminate against same-sex married couples. Johnson defended the bill at the time, arguing that it only prevented the state from taking action against business owners who exercised their beliefs on same-sex marriage, The Advocate reported. The bill was never brought for a vote.
SarahJane Guidry, executive director of Forum for Equality, a Louisiana LGBTQ rights group, said Johnson’s tenure in the state House was “short but impactful.”
“He really did pave the way for the types of conversations, types of legislation and types of attacks that we’re seeing in Louisiana today, whether it’s the ban on gender-affirming health care, or the ban on trans youth playing sports,” Guidry said. “His track record, while he wasn’t here very long, definitely had a long impact.”
The Republican Party, she added, “is really making sure that those very vocal opinions that Speaker Johnson has made in the past and is currently making are the interests of the party going forward, and I find that to be a very scary situation, for not only Louisiana, but the country to be in.”
Shortly after Rep. John Fleming, R-La., announced in 2015 that he would be leaving the House to run for a vacant Senate seat, Johnson declared his candidacy for the House and was elected.
As a member of Congress, Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservative House members. Reports in 2019 found that the committee was pressuring Amazon to rescind its ban on books by an author who is considered “the father of conversion therapy.”
On Capitol Hill, Johnson also spearheaded the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, which aimed to prohibit the instruction of sexual orientation, gender identity and “transgenderism,” among other topics, for children under the age of 10. The bill, which Johnson introduced last year, was seen as a federal version of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law.
A ‘dangerous’ House speaker for LGBTQ rights?
Gabriele Magni, an assistant professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and director of the school’s LGBTQ Politics Research Initiative, said Johnson’s ascension to leadership could be “dangerous” for LGBTQ rights. He said Johnson will be able to prioritize, fund raise for and give greater visibility to anti-LGBTQ policies in unparalleled ways as the 56th House speaker.
“These are going to become even more mainstream positions within the Republican Party because they’re not the positions of the minority, but they are the priority of the leadership, someone who is second in line to the presidency,” Magni said.
Johnson’s most recent Republican predecessors as speaker, McCarthy and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, maintained anti-LGBTQ standpoints as well, though Johnson has put far more focus on the issue.
Throughout his time in Congress, Ryan opposed same-sex marriage, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act, enacted in 2009 by the Obama administration, extended federal hate crimes laws to cover sexual orientation, gender identity and disabilities.
McCarthy voted against the Equality Act, federal legislation that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, in 2021. As speaker, McCarthy — whose speakership became the shortest in more than 140 years — also did little to quell a chorus of increasingly bigoted rhetoric from several firebrand Republican House members.
One of those lawmakers, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga, appeared to celebrate Johnson’s election as speaker on Wednesday specifically for his stances on LGBTQ issues.
“Mike has a conservative voting record and has committed to helping me move important legislation forward, like my Protect Children’s Innocence Act, to end the genital mutilation of kids,” Greene wrote on X, referring to her bill to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors. “Let’s get to work!”
Several Republicans said they voted against Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., for speaker this week in part because Emmer voted for a bill last year that codified same-sex marriage protections into federal law. Emmer’s loss opened up the speakership for Johnson.
Despite being arguably to the right of his Republican predecessors on LGBTQ issues and more vocal in his opposition to LGBTQ rights, Johnson’s positions are also largely inline with mainstream Republican ideals. The Republican National Committee’s most recent platform, dopted in 2016 and renewed in 2020, refers to marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman at least five times.
State and local Republican lawmakers have also shifted to the right on LGBTQ issues in recent years. So far this year, state lawmakers have introduced more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills, and at least 80 have become law, according to a tallyby the American Civil Liberties Union.
On Wednesday afternoon, after her initial social media post about the House speaker vote, Craig weighed in again, appearing to confirm that mention of her anniversary was a dig at Johnson.
“Proud to vote against him on my 15th anniversary with my wife, Cheryl,” she wrote on X. “@RepMikeJohnson, enjoy it while it lasts — it won’t be long.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a history of harsh anti-gay language from his time as an attorney for a socially conservative legal group in the mid-2000s.
In editorials that ran in his local Shreveport, Louisiana, paper, The Times, Johnson called homosexuality a “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous lifestyle” that would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy “the entire democratic system.”
And, in another editorial, he wrote, “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.”
At the time, Johnson was an attorney and spokesman for Alliance Defense Fund, known today as Alliance Defending Freedom, where he also authored his opposition to the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas – which overturned state laws that criminalized homosexual activity between consenting adults.
ADFwrote an amicus brief in the case which supported maintaining criminalization.
“States have many legitimate grounds to proscribe same-sex deviate sexual intercourse,” Johnson wrote in a July 2003 op-ed, calling it a public health concern.
“By closing these bedroom doors, they have opened a Pandora’s box,” he added.
Now, Johnson is the speaker of the House at a time when a majority of Americans are strongly supportive of gay rights.
In the House Republican Conference’s voting for their speaker nominee, Tom Emmer, who initially beat out Johnson, came under fire from conservatives for voting to codify same-sex marriage in 2022.
In the mid-2000s, Johnson’s anti-gay rhetoric was harsh. In September 2004, Johnson wrote in support of a Louisiana amendment banning same-sex marriage saying it could lead to people marrying their pets.
“Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural and, the studies clearly show, are ultimately harmful and costly for everyone,” he wrote. “Society cannot give its stamp of approval to such a dangerous lifestyle. If we change marriage for this tiny, modern minority, we will have to do it for every deviant group. Polygamists, polyamorists, pedophiles, and others will be next in line to claim equal protection. They already are. There will be no legal basis to deny a bisexual the right to marry a partner of each sex, or a person to marry his pet.”
Johnson added that allowing same-sex marriage could be the downfall of the democratic system.
“The state and its citizens have a compelling interest in preserving the integrity of the marital union by making opposite-sex marriage the exclusive form of family relationship endorsed by the government,” he wrote. “Loss of this status will de-emphasize the importance of traditional marriage to society, weaken it, and place our entire democratic system in jeopardy by eroding its foundation.”
In another 2004 column, Johnson again predicted same-sex marriage could doom America.
“If you were shocked by the moral lapses at the Super Bowl you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” Johnson wrote. “Experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”
Dominic DuPree, 25, a Black gender-nonconforming person, was shot to death October 13 in Chicago.
DuPree was in a vehicle when they were shot multiple times, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. They were pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests has been made.
DuPree, also known as Dominic Palace, was an entrepreneur who operated the businesses Private Protection Division LLC in Gary, Ind., and Hondo IV Lawncare & Snow Removal LLC.
“Dominic’s social media is filled with Chicago sports teams and athletes, political figures, Tyler Perry movies, and their favorite TV shows,” Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents notes.
DuPree was the fourth gender-nonconforming person killed in the U.S. in 2023 and the second gender-nonconforming person killed in a month, according to the Human Rights Campaign. They are the 17th transgender or gender-nonconforming person killed in 2023 with a gun, out of more than 20 known victims of fatal violence among this population overall. HRC’s tracking has found that since 2013, at least 231 transgender and gender-nonconforming victims of fatal violence have been killed with a firearm, approximately 70 percent of all deaths identified to date.
“Dominic had an entrepreneurial spirit and was passionate about providing services to help others,” Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for HRC’s Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a press release. “Dominic was only 25, loved by so many people, and surely had so much more to give. We must all work to stop the horrific gun violence that too often takes the lives of Black transgender and gender-nonconforming people.”
In a move to celebrate and preserve LGBTQ+ history in America, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a gay Democrat from Wisconsin and the chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus put forward two bills on Friday aimed at creating a National Museum of American LGBTQ+ History and Culture.
These legislative proposals come as a fitting capstone to LGBTQ+ History Month, according to a news release.
One proposal entails the formation of an eight-member commission, infused with expertise in museum planning or LGBTQ+ research and culture, to investigate the feasibility of establishing such a significant institution in the nation’s capital. The commission is tasked with several key responsibilities, including devising a plan of action and a fundraising strategy to financially fuel the establishment, operation, and maintenance of the museum through public contributions.
Additionally, the commission will engage in an independent review of the fundraising blueprint to ensure a robust analysis of the resources required sans reliance on federal funds.
BREAKING: I\u2019ve just introduced legislation to create a National Museum of American LGBTQI+ History and Culture. As our community faces unprecedented attacks and attempts to erase our history, we must preserve and protect our stories for future generations.— (@)
The commission is assigned to scout potential locations in Washington, D.C., estimate the regional impact on other museums, and examine the availability and cost of acquiring collections for the museum. A legislative plan of action for the museum’s establishment and construction will be submitted to Congress following the commission’s comprehensive study. The recommendations will also consider whether the museum should operate under the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex.
The timeline for the commission to complete its thorough investigation is 18 months.
Once the commission wraps up its work and issues its recommendations, Congress will then have the footing to consider the second bill, which is aimed at formally establishing the museum.
Pocan is adamant about the vital role of such a museum, especially in the face of what he perceives as unprecedented attacks and attempts to erase LGBTQ+ history.
“As our community faces unprecedented attacks and attempts to erase our history, we must preserve and protect our stories for future generations,” Rep. Pocan said. “It is vital to remember our collective past – particularly when certain states, and even Members of Congress, seek to constrain and repeal existing rights by passing bills that harm LGBTQI+ youth and our community at large.”
“This is a museum, much like we’ve done to recognize African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, and most recently, Asian-Americans,” Pocan explained further in a video announcing the bill. “It’s a way to really recognize our community and to be able to recognize it and look at its history and look at all aspects of [the] treatment of this country, both good and bad. And this legislation would start the process so that we could also have a museum dedicated to the LGBTQI+ community.”
The initiative has garnered support from all eight LGBTQ+ co-chairs of the Equality Caucus, including Representatives Mark Takano of California, Sharice Davids of Kansas, Robert Garcia of California, Becca Balint of Vermont, Ritchie Torres of New York, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Angie Craig of Minnesota, and Eric Sorensen of Illinois, who joined Pocan in introducing the legislation.
Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, is little-known nationally, but he’s as anti-LGBTQ+ as any of the more prominent members of his party — perhaps even more so. The Human Rights Campaign calls him “the most anti-equality speaker in U.S. history.”
Johnson was elected speaker Wednesday, winning 220 votes to Democrat Hakeem Jeffries’s 209. The speaker is usually drawn from the House’s majority party, although he or she does not have to be, and sets the agenda for the House, which can do no business without a speaker.
Johnson, in his fourth term representing a northwestern Louisiana district, has received a zero on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard in every term. He voted against the Equality Act, the Respect for Marriage Act, and numerous other pro-equality bills. He has introduced legislation inspired by Florida’s “don’t say gay” law and led a hearing in opposition to gender-affirming care for minors.
Before entering politics, he was an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to promoting causes championed by the religious right, especially opposition to LGBTQ+ equality and abortion rights. While at ADF in 2006, he touted the so-called Day of Truth, the far right’s response to Day of Silence, which is a protest against bullying of LGBTQ+ youth. Day of Truth, he said, is “another perspective on the homosexual lifestyle, which many people believe is morally wrong and physically dangerous.”
In 2004, he had written an editorial for a Louisiana newspaper opposing marriage equality. “If we change marriage for the homosexual activists, 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 2003, as an attorney with ADF, he represented clients who sued the city of New Orleans in an effort to stop it from providing domestic-partner benefits. He also defended Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage before the state’s Supreme Court.
ADF filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of sodomy laws, which the high court ended up overturning in the Lawrence v. Texas ruling in 2003. When the decision came down, he wrote an editorial criticizing it in the Shreveport, La., Times, saying, “States have many legitimate grounds to proscribe same-sex deviate sexual intercourse.” The editorial was unearthed by CNN.
Between ADF and the U.S. House, he served one term in the Louisiana House. “He dedicated his one and only term to rolling back LGBTQ+ rights.,” HRC notes in a press release. “In 2015, he authored House Bill 707, a License to Discriminate bill that would have prevented the state government from enforcing nondiscrimination provisions when professionals or businesses discriminate against same-sex couples based on religious beliefs.”
In the U.S. House in 2022, he introduced a bill called the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022, which would have prohibited the use of federal funds “to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes.” Inspired by Florida’s “don’t say gay” law, it would have banned discussion of topics related to identity as well as more explicit content. It went nowhere, as the House then had a Democratic majority.
This year, he led a hearing on gender-affirming care for minors. It was titled “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Children.” In his opening statement, he said, “We see adults inflicting harm on helpless children to affirm their worldview: that is, that gender is fluid, sex can be surgically altered, and that there are no lasting consequences as a result of these gender transition procedures. … Something has gone terribly wrong, and today we hope to shed light on what that is and how we can address the problem.”
During the speaker vote, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, clapped back against Johnson’s opposition to marriage equality by shouting “Happy anniversary to my wife!” Craig is the first lesbian mother in Congress and the first out LGBTQ+ Congress member elected from her state.
Johnson is also, like most House Republicans, opposed to abortion rights and supportive of gun rights. And he voted against certifying the results of the last presidential election. He is a close ally of Donald Trump.
Johnson will succeed Republican Kevin McCarthy of California, who was ousted as speaker this month. His election came after several other Republican House members, including Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Tom Emmer, were nominated as speaker and ended up being voted down or withdrawing. They were almost universally anti-LGBTQ+, although Emmer did vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, which wrote marriage equality into federal law. For that, Emmer was criticized by some conservatives. Johnson’s comment on whether Emmer’s vote should be an issue was “You know how I voted on it. Everybody votes their conscience but I’ve always been very resolute on that issue,” according to Punchbowl News.
LGBTQ+ groups denounced Johnson’s elevation to speaker. “From his more than a decade working as an attorney for the virulently anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom, to his stint as an archenemy of LGBTQ+ equality in the Louisiana legislature, and through his tenure as a hard-right bomb-thrower in Congress, Mike Johnson has a scorched earth history as someone who seeks to drive people out of our society purely on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity,” says HRC’s press release.
“The MAGA House majority has selected the most anti-equality speaker in U.S. history by elevating Mike Johnson — this is a choice that will be a stain on the record of everyone who voted for him,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in the release. “Johnson is someone who doesn’t hesitate to express his disdain for the LGTBQ+ community from the rooftops and then introduces legislation that seeks to erase us from society. Just like Jim Jordan, Mike Johnson is an election-denying, anti-LGBTQ+ extremist, and the lawmakers who appeared to stand on principle in opposing Jordan’s bid have revealed themselves to be just as out-of-touch as their new leader.”
The state of Tennessee is being sued in the U.S. District Court in Memphis by a support group and four sex workers who say a set of 1990 laws unlawfully discriminate against people living with HIV.
Tennessee law currently criminalizes prostitution as a misdemeanor, usually punishable by a small fine. Sex workers living with HIV, however, are prosecuted as aggravated prostitution, a felony, and subjected to lifetime registration as a violent sexual offender under the Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification and Tracking Act of 2004 (TN-SORA).
The plaintiffs in the case are OUTMemphis, an LGBTQ+ advocacy and support group for people living with HIV, and four individuals living with HIV who say they suffered discriminatory hardship following their conviction for aggravated prostitution and the resulting lifetime registration as a violent sexual offender. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the TransgenderLaw Center.
“People convicted of Aggravated Prostitution must spend years in prison and then register as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives – meaning they cannot access the housing, employment, healthcare and community life that they need to get back on their feet,” Molly Quinn, executive director of OUTMemphis, said in a statement. “This statute solely targets people because of their HIV status and keeps them in cycles of poverty while posing absolutely zero benefit to public health and safety.”
Named in the suit are Governor Bill Lee, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch, and Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada.
The lawsuit claims living with HIV has “long been recognized as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).” The lawsuit concludes that since the “ADA prohibits discrimination by state government entities by reason of a person’s disability,” the aggravated prostitution prosecutions are “explicitlyviolating this guarantee by subjecting people living with HIV who are convicted of engaging in sex work to dramatically increased criminal liability and lifetime registration as ‘violent’ sex offenders – solely by virtue of their disability.” The lawsuit also claims the aggravated prostitution statutes violate the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment for SORA-TN’s lifetime sex registration requirement.
“The Aggravated Prostitution statute is a relic from when HIV first emerged in the 1980s and is motivated by fear, misinformation, and discrimination — not sound science or evidence,” Jeff Preptit, staff attorney for ACLU-TN, said in a statement. “Instead of criminalizing HIV, which disproportionately targets transgender and cisgender Black women who are already socially and financially marginalized, lawmakers should invest in evidence-based public health responses to support people living with HIV to end the epidemic.”
The lawsuit noted that Black cisgender and transgender women were disproportionately impacted by the law, and that “a Black woman in Tennessee was 290 times more likely to be on the sex offender registry for an HIV-related conviction than a white man.”
Police have arrested a young man they say shot and killed the journalist and LGBTQ+ activist Josh Kruger in his home earlier this month.
Robert Davis, 19, surrendered without incident and was arrested at the home of his mother in south Philadelphia on Wednesday, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer and other sources. Police say Davis shot Kruger seven times in the chest and abdomen around 1:30 a.m. on October 2. Kruger staggered outside, where he collapsed, and died a short time later at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Davis’s mother, Damica Davis, earlier this month told the Inquirer that her son grew up without a father, suffered from mental health and anger management issues, and had been in and out of several drug rehabilitation programs. She said his drug use and erratic behavior escalated when he turned 15. He started staying out late at night on a regular basis, and the family found drug paraphernalia, including needles, in his possession.
When she confronted him about his behavior, she said Davis claimed he was involved with an “older white woman” who “worked for the government” he had recently met online. Kruger was an employee of the city from 2015 to 2020, including as a spokesperson for the Office of Homeless Services and at the Department of Health.
Despite being unable to hold down a steady job, Davis started coming home with expensive gifts and clothing he could not afford. Damica told the Inquirer the family was concerned and followed Davis to the same block where Kruger lived, but were unable to determine which house he had entered. She also said she saw the name Josh frequently appear on her son’s phone.
Davis said her son only recently confessed that he was involved in a drug-fueled sexual relationship with Kruger and that the journalist-activist was threatening to post sexually explicit videos of the youth online if he didn’t comply with certain requests he found objectionable.
“He was scared,” Davis told the Inquirerearlier this month after the murder. “He said ‘He wanted me to do some stuff I didn’t want to do and if I didn’t do it, he said he was going to blackmail me.’”
At the same time Davis was learning of her son’s alleged involvement with Kruger, anonymous sources confirmed to the Inquirer that investigators had independently identified images and messages described as “disturbing” on Kruger’s phone, and that the matter was forwarded to the Special Victims Unit for further investigation. Police also say they found methamphetamine in his home on the date of his murder.
Despite the allegations, Kruger was remembered for his personal struggles in surviving homelessness, addiction, and sex work.
“Josh was a complex, beautiful person who believed fiercely in justice and wrote with fire and compassion that few others can,” Mathew Rodriguez, writer and former editor at The Body said in a statement to The Advocate earlier this month. “He was also my friend of over a decade and the world is worse for not having his keen insight and big heart.”
For her part, Davis is not excusing the actions of her son, saying that nothing justifies the killing of Kruger.
“It’s tragic what happened,” she said. “But I feel like my son is a victim in this as well.”
