Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, and Title IX

Elected by the House of Representatives on October 25, 2023,

by a party-line vote of 220 Republicans to 209 Democrats [1]

By Betsy Armstrong,[2] November 8, 2023

Speaker Johnson takes over at a contentious time in American politics, especially for the Republican party, but not a whole lot is known about him by the general public. However, reviewing his legislative bills gives us a good idea of his outlook regarding our six Title IX Network areas of concern, which are gender transitioning, parental rights, women’s sports, due process, domestic violence, and free speech.[3] He has been very consistent in his voting record for conservative causes. That is due to his strong personal and publicly professed Christian faith and decades-long conservative public stand on social issues.

Speaker Johnson is “a Christian, a husband, a father, a life-long conservative, constitutional law attorney and a small business owner in that order.”[4]. He is best known for his defense of former President Donald Trump’s challenging the results of the 2020 election.[5] In his acceptance speech he listed a number of his priorities, including border security, cutting federal spending and establishing a bipartisan debt commission “immediately.” Right now, he is absorbed in avoiding a possible November 17 government shutdown and securing funding for Israel in its battle with Hamas. So, there isn’t much time at present for him to be involved in our Title IX issues, but I feel confident we have an ally in the Title IX fight.

Here is a little more background information about him: Mike Johnson, 51, first served in the Louisiana State Legislature in 2015 and was then elected to represent the 4^th Congressional District of Louisiana in 2016. Prior to his political career, he was an attorney in private practice, and also worked as senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) where he advocated for anti-sodomy laws and criminalizing homosexuality. His staunchly conservative views are verified by his chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, from 2019 to 2021; he was vice chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2023; he was also a deputy whip for House Republicans, and a member of the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees. He has worked closely with the Christian groups Answers in Genesis, Louisiana Family Forum, and Focus on the Family.

In 2004, he defended Amendment 1 to the Louisiana Constitution, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, against legal challenges. From 2004 to 2012 he served on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. In September 2016, he summarized his legal career as “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”.[6]

The Equality Act (H.R.5) was introduced in Congress in March 2019. It sought to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed race discrimination, to add sexual orientation and gender identity.[7] In May 2019, Johnson proposed an amendment to the bill to neutralize “poison pills” that it contained which threatened to undermine parental and conscience rights. He told National Review,

. . . the so-called ‘Equality’ Act would actually eliminate sex-based protections for women by forcing rape crisis centers, lady’s locker rooms, female prisons, women’s sports leagues and other sex-based organizations to admit biological males. Additionally, this bill would eviscerate constitutionally protected rights by empowering the federal government to force employers, medical professionals, parents, business owners and all Americans to act in violation of their conscience. The federal government should not be able to dictate a belief system.[8]

The legislation passed the House in 2019 but not the Senate. It was previously introduced in 2015 and 2017, then again in 2021.[9] The Equality Act was introduced as S. 5 on June 21, 2023, as a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes, but is considered to have less than a 1% chance of being enacted.[10]

In March 2023, Johnson co-sponsored, along with many Republican colleagues, H.R. 734, the ‘‘Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023.’’ This seeks to prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in female athletic programs by recognizing sex which is “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” This is the first standalone bill to restrict the rights of transgender people considered in the House.[11]

On July 27, 2023, House Republicans on a panel for limited federal government argued that parents should not be allowed to let their transgender children have access to gender-affirming care.

At a hearing on transgender youth, Johnson, the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, said that “A parent has no right to sexually transition a young child … Our American legal system recognizes the important public interest in protecting children from abuse and physical harm. No parent has a constitutional right to injure their children.”

Johnson, and several other Republicans, floated the idea that the federal government should get involved, but did not offer specifics on potential legislation. They argued that gender-affirming surgery should not be allowed for transgender minors.[12]

Johnson’s advocacy for The Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act and limitations on transgender affirmative care for minors demonstrate his views on human dignity, as set out on his Congressional website, show him to be a man we can count on to help lead the way against the US Dept. of Education’s Title IX revisions.

Additional 2023 sponsored legislation corresponding to the six areas of interest for the Title IX Network [13] include;

·         H.R. 5, Parents Bill of Rights Act, March 2023, to ensure the rights of parents are honored and protected in the Nation’s public schools (Crossed over 3/27/23 and received in the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on 03/27/2023) [14];

·         H.R. 1399, Protect Children’s Innocence Act, March 2023, to amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender-affirming care on minors, and for other purposes (Referred to the Subcommittee on Health on 03/17/2023)[15];

·         H.R. 4776, Protecting Free Speech Act, July 2023, to terminate the Disinformation Governance Board of the Department of Homeland Security and to prohibit the use of Federal funds to establish any other similar Board, and for other purposes (Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability on 07/20/2023)[16];

·         H.R. 4791, Free Speech Protection Act, July 2023, to prohibit Federal employees and contractors from directing online platforms to censor any speech that is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes (Referred to the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection on 07/20/2023) [17] and

·         H.R. 5636, September 2023, a second Protect Children’s Innocence Act, September 2023, to amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender affirming care on minors (Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary on 09/21/2023). [18]

I feel confident we can count on our new Speaker to support the goals of our Network.

Title IX Legislation Co-sponsored by House Speaker Mike Johnson in 2023

By Betsy Armstrong,[1] November 8, 2023

Title IX Network areas of concern: gender transitioning, parental rights, women’s sports, due process, domestic violence, and free speech.[2]

• H.R. 734: Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023,[3] March 2023, to prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in female athletic programs by recognizing sex “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” This is the first standalone bill to restrict the claimed rights of transgender people introduced in the House.[4]

• H.R. 5: Parents Bill of Rights Act,[5]­ March 2023, to ensure the rights of parents are honored and protected in the Nation’s public schools.

• H.R. 1399: Protect Children’s Innocence Act,[6] March 2023, to amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender-affirming care on minors, and for other purposes.

• H.R. 4776: Protecting Free Speech Act,[7] July 2023, to terminate the Disinformation Governance Board of the Department of Homeland Security and to prohibit the use of Federal funds to establish any other similar Board, and for other purposes.

• H.R. 4791: Free Speech Protection Act,[8] July 2023, to prohibit Federal employees and contractors from directing online platforms to censor any speech that is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes.

• H.R. 5636: Protect Children’s Innocence Act,[9] September 2023, to amend chapter 110 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit gender affirming care on minors.

Note: The Equality Act (H.R.5) was introduced in Congress in March, 2019. It sought to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed race discrimination, to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics.[10] In May 2019, Johnson proposed an amendment to neutralize “poison pills” that it contained which threatened to undermine parental and conscience rights. He told National Review,

. . . the so-called ‘Equality’ Act would actually eliminate sex-based protections for women by forcing rape crisis centers, lady’s locker rooms, female prisons, women’s sports leagues and other sex-based organizations to admit biological males. Additionally, this bill would eviscerate constitutionally protected rights by empowering the federal government to force employers, medical professionals, parents, business owners and all Americans to act in violation of their conscience. The federal government should not be able to dictate a belief system.[11]

The legislation passed the House in 2019 but not the Senate. It had been previously introduced in the House in 2015 and 2017 and was reintroduced in 2021.[12] It was introduced in the Senate as S.5 on June 21, 2023, but is considered to have less than a 1% chance of being enacted.[13]

On July 27, 2023, House Republicans on a panel for limited federal government argued that parents should not be allowed to let their transgender children have access to gender-affirming care. [14]

At a hearing on transgender youth, Johnson, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, said “A parent has no right to sexually transition a young child … Our American legal system recognizes the important public interest in protecting children from abuse and physical harm. No parent has a constitutional right to injure their children.”

Johnson, and several other Republicans, floated the idea that the federal government should get involved, but did not offer specifics on potential legislation. They argued that gender-affirming surgery should not be allowed for transgender minors.[15]