Mike Johnson, the newly-minted Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, is standing by an article he wrote some 15 years ago when the Supreme Court overturned state laws criminalizing sodomy, saying: “Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe, so I do not apologize for it.”
Speaker Johnson insisted he “genuinely love[s] all people regardless of their lifestyle choices,” explaining his view on the matter “is not about the people themselves” but about the fact he is “a Bible-believing Christian.”
As a senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, Johnson argued strongly against the Lawrence v. Texas ruling overturning sodomy laws in 13 states. He agreed with the late Justice Anton Scalia that the laws were “not about the persecution of a minority, but whether states have authority to regulate dangerous sexual conduct,” and expressed concern about “the exponential spread of STDs and HIV” – which to the present day is largely contracted and spread by people who engage in male-on-male sexual acts, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Contrary to the Lawrence justices, Johnson insisted there was “no right to sodomy in the Constitution.”
Johnson also predicted the ruling would have enormous ramifications in “the battle for the culture” and pave the way for “the homosexual lobby’s ultimate prize – the redefinition of marriage.”
The Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples had the same right to marry as heterosexual couples in 2015.
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