More recently, however, some of Johnson’s out-of-the-mainstream views and alliances have begun to surface.
In a July 20, 2005 editorial that Johnson wrote for the Shreveport Times, Johnson argued that
All of us should acknowledge the real emotion and strife of the homosexual lifestyle and should certainly treat all people with dignity, love and respect. But our government can never provide its stamp of approval or special legal sanction for behavior patterns that are proven to be destructive to individuals, to families and to society at large. Your race, creed and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do.
“We must always remember,” Johnson concluded, “that it is not bigotry to make moral distinctions.”
A year earlier, Johnson wrote, in another op-ed, that
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 government. 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.
It would be difficult to overestimate the dangers Johnson foresaw. “Society,” he wrote,
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. If everyone does what is right in his own eyes, chaos and sexual anarchy will result. And make no mistake, the extremists who seek to redefine marriage also want to deny you the right to object to immoral behavior. Our precious religious freedom hangs in the balance.
In an Oct. 26 interview with Sean Hannity after he was elected to the leadership post, Johnson described his faith in the Bible as his exclusive guide in life:
What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun? Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview. That’s what I believe.
On Oct. 27, my Times colleagues Annie Karni, Ruth Graham and Steve Eder reported on a 2006 essay that Johnson posted on Townhall, a right-wing website.
In it, they write, “Johnson railed against ‘the earnest advocates of atheism and sexual perversion’. He also decried “This sprawling alliance of anti-God enthusiasts” that “has proven frighteningly efficient at remaking America in their own brutal, dehumanizing image.”
“In the space of a few decades,” Johnson added, “they have managed to entrench abortion and homosexual behavior, objectify children into sexual objects, criminalize Christianity in the popular culture, and promote guilt and self-doubt as the foremost qualities of our national character.”