As I’ve been intermittently following the story of Indiana state representative Phil Hinkle and his very public outing, I’ve been pretty outraged.
If you don’t know anything about Hinkle or the sad state of affairs in which he has inserted himself, here’s the gist. He’s a married man, with children, who responded to a Craiglist ad posted by Kameryn Gibson, an 18-year-old man requesting a “sugga daddy.” Hinkle made clear that he couldn’t be a long-term sugar daddy, but set up a meeting in a hotel for a “really good time,” offering Gibson $80. Gibson backed out when he found out Hinkle was a legislator, and Hinkle allegedly told him he couldn’t leave, grabbed Gibson’s ass, and exposed himself. Gibson then called his sister, who threatened to call the local media, and Hinkle allegedly offered his iPad, his Blackberry, and $100 in cash if they would keep it quiet. Then, according to Gibson, Hinkle’s wife snapped into action and offered $10,000 to keep the whole thing quiet. The sister, Megan Gibson, then contacted the Indianapolis Star, and that was the beginning of the end of Hinkle’s political career.
Feel free to read all the details, provided by the Star. Or you can read Horace Boothroyd III’s excellent diary on the story.
On some level, under different circumstances, if it were a different person with a different voting record, minus the sexual assault allegations, one might be tempted to feel sorry for somebody found in Hinkle’s situation. After all, here’s a man who grew up in a society that told him being gay was abnormal and being straight was the ideal. As a result, he obviously internalized a lot of self-hatred, married a woman, had children, and set himself up for this inevitable catastrophe that has been unfolding for the past couple of weeks. As Phil Hinkle knows all too well, same-sex attractions don’t go away when you’re married to someone of the opposite sex.
But of course, we have to remember who we’re talking about. Aside from the allegations that he grabbed Gibson’s ass and exposed himself (and possibly attempted to detain Gibson in the hotel room), all of which are disgusting in their own right, Hinkle’s LGBT record itself is pretty disgusting. Hinkle, a co-author of a bill to create “In God We Trust” license plates in Indiana (it might be worth noting), has been steadfastly opposed to everything gay rights-related. He’s a predictable opponent of marriage equality, quite outspoken as a supporter of the constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage in Indiana. I don’t have much sympathy for sexual assaulters or self-hating closet cases who express their self-hate by inflicting harm on other LGB people.
And that’s the story of Phil Hinkle. Another closeted anti-gay Republican who has ruined his career and caused great pain to his family (not to mention the gays and lesbians affected by his voting record) by living a hypocritical life of deception.
And now, as seems to be typical in these kinds of cases, Hinkle – rather than coming to terms with his sexuality and owning his mistakes – is simply denying, denying, denying. Denying the assault allegations, denying the bribery allegations, denying that he’s gay. It’s all very familiar:
In fact, it’s pretty much word-for-word Larry Craig:
I say that emphatically. I’m not gay.
He also has this to say:
I want to know what upstairs in my brain went off that sent me down a road of self-destruction. Somewhere upstairs a button got pushed, and I want to know why. People keep asking: "What were you thinking?" I honestly don't know. It's as simple as that. I want to know why I did what I did. But I do believe that God slapped me upside the head and said, "Wake up and smell the coffee, jerk. You're walking down the wrong road."
Now he's fighting back against not only the allegations of sexual assault and bribery, but also against calls for his resignation.
And there you have it. Phil Hinkle will not admit wrongdoing and will not resign. Oh, and he’s not gay.
Because straight men definitely set up hotel “sugar daddy” rendezvous with 18-year-old men. All the time.
Sadly, no.
Even more sadly, Hinkle – rather than getting the help he really needs – seems to be intent on getting "help" of the Marcus Bachmann variety. He claims to have “went to the edge,” a problem for which he is seeking “professional help.” Because, after decades of living a lie, all he really needs is that little bit of “professional help” to finally become straight.
Despite the gross details of the story, it really is a very sad situation – one that reflects the deeply-seated homophobia within our society. We may not feel sorry for Hinkle, but it is a shame that the kind of situation in which he found himself existed at all.
Hinkle’s “problem” is that he’s gay. The real “help” he needs is to accept that reality.
But instead, we find yet another sad chapter in the growing book known as Republican hypocrisy.