Newly elected House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) claims he does not remember “some of” the many, many anti-LGBTQ+ comments he’s made over the course of his career.
Johnson’s history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights has been well documented and stretches back to the early 2000s, when he worked as a senior attorney and national media spokesman for anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (then called the Alliance Defense Fund). Between 2003 and 2005, Johnson also wrote several editorials for Shreveport, Louisiana, paper The Times, criticizing the Supreme Court for striking down anti-sodomy laws, opposing same-sex marriage, and arguing against non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people.
When they’re pretending it means they’re willing to acknowledge the shame of their immoral stance. It’s when they stop pretending that they openly go after these things and dare anyone to try to stop them. Normalizing their hatred and bigotry really isn’t preferable, it’s a step toward enabling even worse behavior on their part.
It’s not shame that’s been slowing them down, though, it’s fear their base isn’t sufficiently radicalised to accept full fascism. Some percentage of their base would vote them out if they dropped the mask.
At least we’ll find out whether that’s true if they stop pussyfooting about.