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 an LGBTQ activist in metropolitan Washington D.C. Born in Tylertown in Walthall County in southwestern Mississippi, Hinson attended public schools.

[1] In 1980, Hinson admitted that in 1976, while an aide to Cochran, he had been arrested for committing an obscene act[2] after he exposed himself to an undercover policeman at the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery.

Hinson, who was married, was arrested again on February 4, 1981, and charged with attempted sodomy[3] 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.

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.