Arkansas Governor's Son Thrust Into Spotlight Over Religious Freedom Bill - New York Times

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Seth Hutchinson, a son of Gov. Asa Hutchinson or Arkansas, at a union rally in Austin, Tex., last year. Seth Hutchinson works as a union organizer and signed a petition urging his father to veto a religious freedom bill in Arkansas. Credit Elias Cantu

The details have started to fade, but Seth Hutchinson, a son of Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, remembers the arrest in the 1990s of an art teacher who was gay.

“He was not out,” Seth Hutchinson recounted on Wednesday. “And he was arrested in a park — I think the official charge was attempting to loiter — and it was obvious he was there because he couldn’t be out and keep his job.”

The teacher soon left Northside High School in Fort Smith, Ark., but Mr. Hutchinson said the episode was a formative experience in the political journey that has frequently pitted him against his father.

The younger Mr. Hutchinson surged into the spotlight on Wednesday when Governor Hutchinson said during a nationally televised news conference that his son had signed a petition urging him to veto a measure that proponents have labeled a religious freedom bill. Critics say the measure could allow individuals and businesses to discriminate against gay men and lesbians.

Mr. Hutchinson, 31, a union organizer in Austin, Tex., has long differed with his father, a onetime Republican congressman who was elected governor last fall. Among Governor Hutchinson’s four children, Seth is a self-described political outcast.

“I love my dad, and we have a good, close relationship,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “But we disagree a lot on political issues. This is just another one, but a lot of families disagree politically. But we stay close.”

It was not always that way, he said.

“I kind of grew up on the campaign trail,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “Having a political opinion just came naturally to me. At first, I pretty much followed the values that my family and my parents laid out for me.”

But starting when he was about 15 and working as a dishwasher at a diner in northwest Arkansas, Mr. Hutchinson’s views began to change as he shuffled through odd jobs, including stints at Chuck E. Cheese’s and Sears. He grew frustrated when he saw older workers enduring financial hardships while they worked long hours at low-paying jobs.

“It just showed me that there’s something wrong,” he said, adding that he became interested in gay rights about the same time, when friends began discussing their sexual orientations.

He spent a year at Georgetown University in Washington before returning to a public university in Arkansas, where he joined liberal student groups and rallied for gay rights during the tenure of another Republican governor, Mike Huckabee.

Mr. Hutchinson has not campaigned for his father, whose election night party he attended last year, since he was a child. The men communicate regularly, he said, by email and telephone, and he returns to Arkansas at least once or twice a year.

“We’re always very respectful,” he said. “My dad is very good at debate. He’s debated a lot of experts over the years in politics. It’s always a lively and engaging conversation, and they’re my family. I like seeing them. But it does mean I’ve got to be prepared for some political disagreements.”

On Saturday night, as state lawmakers prepared to vote on the measure that would soon place Arkansas into the middle of a political firestorm, Mr. Hutchinson sent his father an email.

He wrote about the damage the law could do to Arkansas’ reputation, and he warned about the economic consequences. He appealed to his father’s legal education, arguing that the measure was too vague.

“He sent back a very thoughtful response,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “He took his time reading it and replying to it, and said he was going to think about it all.”

On Wednesday, the governor said he would ask lawmakers to either recall or rewrite portions of the bill. His son, though, refused to take credit.

“I did not sway my dad,” he said. “I think my dad is rethinking this because of the pressure that’s coming at him from all sides.”

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