Friday, April 13, 2012 — The following item ran in our “Admiral Fowle’s Piscataqua River Tidal Guide (Not for Navigational Purposes)” for this date:
“1981 — Rep. Jon Hinson (R-MS) resigns his seat three months after being arrested for attempting to commit oral sodomy in a House restroom.”
Hinson was elected to represent Mississippi’s 4th District (right) in 1978. It was revealed during his re-election campaign that he had been arrested in 1976 near the Iwo Jima Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery for exposing himself to an undercover cop.
Hinson denied being a homosexual, attributed his behavior to alcohol dependency, and was reelected in 1980.
After his resignation, prompted by his February 5, 1981 arrest, Hinson and his wife divorced, he acknowledged his homosexuality, and he became a gay rights activist. He also revealed that he had been one of only four survivors of a 1977 fire at the Cinema Follies, a gay, X-rated movie theater in Washington, D.C. Hinson died in 1995 of complications of AIDS.