Richard Cohen of SPLC put photos up side by side. On the left a man with a swastika on his forehead. On the right a man in a white shirt & tie. He said the one on the right is the dangerous one. WE GOT A DANGEROUS EXTREMIST SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

 

“Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson’s path in Republican politics began with a yearslong role as the senior attorney and national spokesperson for a group affiliated with the religious right dedicated to dismantling LGBTQ+ freedoms and outlawing abortion.

Johnson worked for that organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, for eight years, from 2002 to 2010, before serving a brief stint as a Louisiana state legislator and then heading to Congress in 2017. He first became a known entity in his state in the late 1990s when he and his wife went on national television as the face of Louisiana’s new marriage covenant laws, which made it harder to get a divorce.

The social conservative causes that have fueled Johnson’s rise, many of which are deeply unpopular with the American public, are already worrisome to Democrats who fear that Johnson — who downplayed the concept of the separation of church and state as recently as April — may try to use the power of the speakership to advance his extreme views.”

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New Speaker Mike Johnson’s Long History With The Religious Right

Come for the Noah's Ark theme park, stay for the relentless efforts to strip women's and LGBTQ+ rights.

By 

Jennifer Bendery

SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER 

Alliance Defending Freedom

Founded by some 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that has supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia; and claims that a “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society. ADF also works to develop “religious liberty” legislation and case law that will allow the denial of goods and services to LGBTQ people on the basis of religion. Since the election of President Trump, ADF has become one of the most influential groups informing the administration’s attack on LGBTQ rights.

Founded by some 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that has:

• Supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad
• Defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad
• Contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia
• Claimed that a “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society

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Alliance Defending Freedom