Watch: House Speaker Mike Johnson: 'I Do Not Apologize' for Anti-LGBTQ+ Stance

Mike Johnson, the newly elected and deeply anti-LGBTQ+ Speaker of the House, says he's a Bible believer who "do[es] not apologize" for the homophobic views he's espoused over the years. Johnson doubled down on his troubling assertions about queer Americans in an interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity, with a dose of "love the sinner" thrown in for good measure.

Johnson "defended calling homosexual relationships 'inherently unnatural' and same-sex marriage 'the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy' in his first sit-down interview" since winning the Speaker's gavel, UK newspaper the Daily Mail reported.

"Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that's my worldview," the former senior legal counsel for the anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom told Hannity. "That's what I believe, so I do not apologize for it."

"Johnson was elected to lead the House majority on Wednesday, earning all 220 votes from Republicans on the floor" after three weeks of turmoil following the toppling of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. "He has since been heavily scrutinized for his stance on abortion and same-sex marriage."

Not that those stances have been hidden in the shadows. Johnson has been a vocal critic of the right of women to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term, and has blasted committed same-sex relationships, making the dubious claim that "Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural and, the studies clearly show, are ultimately harmful and costly for everyone."

What "studies" Johnson was referring to is unclear.

The new Speaker, who has supported the claims of Donald Trump about a "stolen" election in 2020 despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, much of it from GOP officials, has even characterized marriage equality as "the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic" (as opposed to, say, sowing doubt and distrust in a democratic electoral process).

The Mail recalled that Johnson "opposed the certification of the 2020 presidential election results and took the lead in filing a brief in a lawsuit that sought to overturn Biden's victory."

"The congressman was also a member of Trump's impeachment defense team."

Johnson's "most recent" anti-LGBTQ+ "comments came in a 2005 op-ed," the Mail noted, "where he stated: 'Your race, creed, and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do. This is a free country, but we don't give special protections for every person's bizarre choices.'"

While not apologizing for his statements, Johnson sought to justify them as a necessary consequence of his job.

"I was a litigator that was called upon to defend the state marriage amendments," Johnson told Hannity, the Mail recounted. "I was a religious liberty defense and was called to defend those cases in the courts."

The news report went on to detail: "Johnson described his legal career as focusing on 'defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they've been under assault.'"

His legal arguments, the Mail recalled, included "call[ing] homosexuality 'sinful destructive' and stat[ing] there was 'no clear right to sodomy in the Constitution.'"

All of that said, Johnson insisted that he has not acted out of animus. "I also genuinely love all people regardless of their lifestyle choices," the new Speaker declared.

"This is not about the people themselves. I am a Bible-believing Christian."

None of that, however, explained how to reconcile the rights of "the people themselves" with the possibility that the Supreme Court – which has already overturned long-established precedent by abolishing the federal right of a woman to decide her own reproductive destiny – will revisit settled law by re-considering, and possibly rescinding, rights around contraception and marriage equality.

Lawmakers concerned that same-sex couples, mixed-faith couples, and interracial couples could see their rights curtailed by the court sought to shore up those rights with the passage of the "Respect for Marriage Act" last year – legislation that Johnson voted against.

Watch Johnson's interview with Hannity below.