Johnson nominated by anti-LGBTQ Republican citing 'God' and 'traditional American values'

03 January

Mike Johnson, the Trump-backed, controversial Republican from Louisiana, secured his second term as Speaker of the House of Representatives on Friday afternoon. He was formally nominated by U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), a fellow far-right Christian conservative and the newly elected Chair of the House Republican Conference. In her nominating remarks, McClain emphasized “God,” “faith,” and “traditional American values” as central themes.

Johnson has “close ties to Christian right — both mainstream and fringe,” according to NPR. His actions have been described by experts as showing a “strong embrace of the ethos of Christian nationalism—a cultural framework that advocates for a particular expression of Christianity to be fused with American civic life, with the government vigorously promoting and preserving this version of Christianity as the principal and undisputed cultural framework.”

Congresswoman McClain told colleagues in her floor speech that House Republicans “are focused on the issues that the majority of Americans care about: God, family, country, faith, freedom, and traditional American values.” She went on to describe Johnson as “steadfast in his values of faith, family, and love of this country.”

In 2021, her first year as a member of Congress, McClain earned a “0%” from the ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union. Included in that scorecard was her vote against the Equality Act, which “would provide LGBTQ people with explicit, comprehensive protection against discrimination under federal civil rights laws. In addition, it would update federal civil rights laws to address modern forms of discrimination, including against all women and people of color. It would do so by updating and modernizing the scope of public spaces and services covered under the law, as well as expanding protections from sex discrimination in public spaces and services and in taxpayer-funded programs,” according to the ACLU.

The following year McClain delivered a fist-pounding interview praising the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision supporting the right of a high school football coach to pray on the field. Posting video of her remarks, she opted to invoke “LGBTQ issues.”

That same year McClain “took aim at Democrats over their push to restrict guns for Americans under 21 years of age in comparison to what she said were their views on age and parental consent when it comes to gender transition procedures,” Newsweek reported.

In 2022, McClain voted against protections for same-sex marriages.

Also that year, McClain “made a series of false claims in a short speech at former President Donald Trump’s rally outside Detroit on Saturday – notably including an assertion that Trump, who has endorsed her for re-election, was the president who caught terrorist Osama bin Laden,” CNN reported. She also falsely claimed that under President Joe Biden, unemployment was at a 40-year high, whiten it was under a 52-year low, and suggested President Biden had not actually won the 2020 election.

In 2023, McClain was one of 26 Republicans on the powerful House Oversight Committee who refused to sign a simple, two-sentence statement denouncing white supremacy:

“We, Members of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, together denounce white nationalism and white supremacy in all its forms, including the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory. These hateful and dangerous ideologies have no place in the work of the United States Congress or our Committee.”

McClain, in her nominating remarks Friday, also declared that the American people “gave us an opportunity to get back to normal and to get back to the real issues that the country faces right now. People want the opportunity to take care of their families. They simply want to provide for their children and give them a prosperous future.”

“And ladies and gentlemen, we have the opportunity today to do just that. We have an opportunity to take our country back with Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate majority leader John Thune and President Donald J. Trump in charge,” she said, to a standing ovation. “We have the opportunity to put America first again. We have an opportunity to do something about crime. We have an opportunity to do something about the border, and we have an opportunity to take care of our veterans.”

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