Members of ACT UP, an LGBTQIA+ organization that was instrumental in outing then-4th District Congressman Jim McCrery has released 26 pages of emails and text messages which it says indicates that family values Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is himself a closet gay.
ACT UP was also in the forefront of efforts to prod Louisiana’s political establishment to take the growing AIDS epidemic seriously back in the 1970s and 1980s.
It was almost exactly one year ago that LouisianaVoice FIRST REPORTED that ACT UP was turning its attention to Johnson—not because he might be gay but because he goes to such lengths to conceal the fact, even openly opposing the LGBTQIA+ community while hiding behind a Bible and the flag.
The documents turned over to LouisianaVoice indicate that several major news organizations, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The London Times, The New Yorker, The Baton Rouge Advocate and The Shreveport Times, attempted to learn of any gay proclivities of Johnson but none ever published a story.
But the documents cite specific instances of homosexual activity on Johnson’s part, including:
- An affair with a Minden attorney after they had won a major verdict in court resulted in a divorce when the attorney’s wife caught them together. In fact, Johnson was an attorney for that firm when he represented the state in challenging several same-sex couples who opposed the state’ ban on same-sex marriage.
- Another attorney, also caught by his wife with Johnson and subsequently divorced, once practiced in Shreveport but now is in New Orleans.
- Johnson also is said to have picked up a 15-year-old boy at a Bossier City gym believed to have been used to groom troubled boys.
- Johnson is said to have also frequented at a gay dance bar in Shreveport dating back to the 1980s.
Of the alleged affair with the Minden attorney, the ACT UP document said, “It seems MJ (Mike Johnson) and another attorney in the law firm worked together on a case and had a big win. The two ended up celebrating by having sex that afternoon at the other attorney’s house and the wife caught them unexpectedly. A divorce followed and the records are sealed in the Webster Parish Court House. Everything was hushed up, MJ moved on to another firm.”
If true, Johnson would not be the first gay person to serve in Congress or other high elective or appointive office. But others, like Barney Frank and Pete Buttigieg, were openly gay, making no effort to hide their sexuality. Attempting to conceal the fact that one is gay, on the other hand, could leave that person subject to blackmail which could jeopardize national security.
McCrery was outed in 1992 when a Dallas teacher claimed he had sex with the congressman on two occasions jus before he won his first election in 1988. Just as Johnson would do later, McCrery supported antigay legislation and policies.




