The behind-the-scenes jockeying for votes to succeed Melissa Mark-Viverito as speaker of the City Council is creating strange political bedfellows.
Gay Manhattan Councilman Corey Johnson showed up at the hospital bed of Ruben Diaz Sr., a controversial Bronx lawmaker opposed to abortion rights and gay marriage.
Diaz, a state senator and pentecostal minister, is considering a run for City Council next year. If elected, Diaz would vote on who becomes the next speaker in January 2018, to succeed the term-limited Mark-Viverito.
“Corey came twice to the hospital to visit me. Not once, twice. We continue to communicate by e-mail,” Diaz, who underwent back surgery at NYU Medical Center over the summer, told The Post.
“If I become a council member, I would definitely consider him for speaker, among others. I consider him a good human being. In my moment of suffering, Corey came to see me. I would stand next to him anytime,” Diaz said.
Diaz, a champion for charter schools who admitted that “some people don’t even want to talk to me because of my positions,” added, “Corey . . . knows what I stand for. He came to see me. That makes him an honorable person.”
Asked if they talked about the speakership, Diaz coyly responded, “We talked about my health. We talked about the whole world.”
A gay-rights advocate said Johnson’s wooing Diaz crossed the line.
“I’m speechless. I’m very good friends with Corey but I can’t condone this visit. Diaz has done so much damage to the LGBT community and women’s rights,’’ said Democratic district leader Allen Roskoff.
“I despise Ruben Diaz Sr. and wouldn’t give him the right time of day,” Roskoff said. “I wouldn’t dignify him with a visit. I wouldn’t want to win with a vote from him.”
But Johnson defended the visits.
“[Diaz] and I don’t agree on a couple of issues but I also try to work with everyone,” Johnson said.
Asked whether they discussed next year’s race for council speaker, he said, “We talked about politics generally.”
He said he was introduced to Diaz through a mutual pal, former state Sen. Tom Duane — the first openly gay and openly HIV-positive member of the Senate.
A dozen other council members have expressed interest in leading the 51-member council, including Julissa Ferreras of Queens, a close ally of Mark-Viverito.