Anti-gay Indiana politician offered $80 to teen male escort

According to emails obtained by the Indianapolis Star, Indiana state Representative Phil Hinkle responded to the Craigslist posting of a teen looking for a “Sugga daddy,” offering the 18 year old $80 to “spend time with him” Saturday night and a $50 or $60 tip “for a really good time.”Hinkle is the co-author of the Indiana law that created the “In God We Trust” license plate. He also voted in favor of amending the Indiana state Constitution to ban marriages between same-sex couples. The young man, Kameryn Gibson, shared the emails directly with the Indianapolis Star, after learning Hinkle is a married lawmaker with children.“The young man told The Star that they met, but that he tried to leave after the man told him he was a state lawmaker. He said the lawmaker at first told him he could not leave, grabbed him in the rear, exposed himself to the young man and then later gave him an iPad, BlackBerry cellphone and $100 cash to keep quiet”Hinkle was responding to an ad Gibson posted the “Casual Encounters” section of Craigslist, using his adopted sister’s email address, according to the Star. The ad included two pictures of the 18 year old shirtless.As he indicated in a blog post this morning, Bil Browning, founder of the Bilerico Project and Indianapolis native, knew it was only a matter of time before Hinkle was outed.“I’ve followed Indiana’s closeted legislators for years and Rep Phil Hinkle’s sexuality has long been an open secret,” Browning told the Blade. “When I put out my call for information about anti-gay closet cases, tips about Phil were the clear majority. Sadly, none of the three young men I spoke to were willing to provide definitive proof that would tie them to the representative. All three had corresponding stories, but without being able to provide solid proof I decided not to run it.”“There are at least two other anti-gay Republican closet cases in the Indiana legislature and a few Democrats as well. Eventually they’ll also be exposed as the hypocrites they are.”