Mike Johnson’s Wife Founded a Company That Equates Being Gay With Bestiality and Incest: Report

In the days since Republicans elected Mike Johnson as the Speaker of the House, a massive amount of information has come out about the previously little known representative from Louisiana, most of which has not been good. The person now second in line to the presidency is a climate-skeptic who tried to overturn the 2020 election, is virulently antiabortion, thinks mass shootings are caused by the teaching of evolution, and has said things like “homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural and…harmful and costly for everyone.” And, as it turns out, his wife appears to have some similarly hateful views about the LGBTQ+ community too. 

HuffPost reports that Kelly Johnson, the spouse of the newly elected Speaker, runs a counseling business that in its operating documents compares being gay to, among other things, having sex with a family member or animal. Specifically, Onward Christian Counseling Services’ 2017 operating agreement states: “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 Speaker, who previously practiced law, notarized the document, and his signature appears on the last page. The company’s website is no longer accessible online.

As HuffPost notes, it’s not clear if Representative Johnson currently believes being gay is equivalent to bestiality and incest or if he did back in 2017. But there are strong indications that he and his wife are in lockstep in their point of views:

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 cohost 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.”

Of the hateful things he’s written about the LGBTQ+ community over the years, Johnson told Hannity, “I don’t even remember some of them,” which, to be clear, is not the same as disavowing what he said. He added, “I…genuinely love all people regardless of their lifestyle choices,” which, again, is not as reassuring as he probably thinks it is.