Jon Hinson

Template:Short description Template:Infobox officeholder Jon Clifton Hinson (March 16, 1942 – July 21, 1995) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. representative for Mississippi's 4th congressional district from 1979 to 1981. Following his 1981 resignation after his arrest for engaging in a homosexual act, he became a gay rights activist in metropolitan Washington D.C.

Early life

Hinson was born in Tylertown, Mississippi, in 1942. He was the son of Clifton Ford Hinson and Lyndell Newman. In 1959, he worked as a page for Democratic U. S. representative John Bell Williams, who subsequently became governor of Mississippi in 1968.

Hinson graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1964 and joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve, in which he served until 1970.

Career

Hinson worked on the U.S. House staff as a doorman in 1967, and then served on the staffs of representatives Charles H. Griffin, a Democrat, and Thad Cochran, a Republican. In 1978, Cochran ran successfully for the United States Senate, and Hinson was elected to succeed Cochran in the House. With 51.6 percent of the vote, Hinson defeated the Democrat John H. Stennis, the son of U.S. senator John C. Stennis, who finished with 26.4 percent of the vote. The remaining ballots were cast for independent candidates.

Sexual orientation

Prior to his 1978 candidacy for the U.S. House, Hinson survived a fire on October 24, 1977, at the Washington, D.C., Gay Cinema Follies. Firefighters found him under a pile of bodies; he was one of only four men rescued.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On August 11, 1979, Hinson married Cynthia Lee Johnson in Alexandria, Virginia. The couple separated on November 22, 1987.<ref>Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Marriage Records, 1936-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.</ref> Their marriage was dissolved by divorce on March 29, 1989.<ref>Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Divorce Records, 1918-2014 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.</ref>

In 1980, Hinson admitted that in 1976, while an aide to Cochran, he had been arrested for committing an obscene act<ref>Associated Press Template:Webarchive</ref> after he exposed himself to an undercover policeman at the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery. Hinson then denied that he was homosexual and blamed his problems on alcoholism. He also said that he had reformed and refused to yield to demands that he resign. He won re-election on November 4, 1980, with a plurality of 39.0 percent of the vote. The Independent Leslie B. McLemore polled 29.8 percent, and Democrat Britt Singletary received 29.4 percent.

Hinson, who was married, was arrested again on February 4, 1981, and charged with attempted sodomy<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> for performing oral sex on a male employee of the Library of Congress in a restroom of the Longworth Building of the House of Representatives. After an investigation prompted by complaints about similar incidents in the same restroom, Hinson was charged with sodomy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the time, homosexual acts, even between consenting adults, were a criminal offense. The charge was a felony that could have resulted in up to ten years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. Since both parties were consenting adults (and social attitudes were changing), the United States attorney's office reduced the charge to a misdemeanor. Facing a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine, Hinson pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted sodomy the following day and was released without bail pending a trial scheduled for May 4, 1981. Soon thereafter, he checked himself into Sibley Memorial Hospital for professional care.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hinson later received a 30-day jail sentence, which was suspended, and a year's probation, on condition that he continue counseling and treatment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Resignation and later life

Hinson resigned on April 13, 1981, just three months into his second term in the House. He said that his resignation had been "the most painful and difficult decision of my life". He was succeeded by Democrat Wayne Dowdy, who won the special election held in the summer of 1981.

After publicly acknowledging that he was gay, he became a gay rights activist, organizing lobbying groups and fighting against the ban on gays in the military. He lived the rest of his life in Alexandria, Virginia, and later Silver Spring, Maryland.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>

Death

Hinson died of respiratory failure resulting from AIDS in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the age of fifty-three.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hinson's body was cremated. His ashes were buried in his native Tylertown, Mississippi, after a private service. By then divorced from his wife Cynthia, Hinson was survived by a brother, Robert Hinson of Gulfport, Mississippi.<ref name=":0" />

See also

• List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
• List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
• List of LGBT members of the United States Congress

Additional sources

• "Hinson, Facing a Morals Charge, Shuns Clamor to Quit Congress," The New York Times, 9 March 1981, A18;
• Associated Press, "Jon Hinson Dies at 53," July 25, 1995;
• Art Harris, "Hinson's Memory Haunts His Mississippi District," Washington Post, 17 June 1981.

External links

• Template:Find a Grave