Dan L. Johnston (April 6, 1938 – October 21, 2016) was an American lawyer and politician. He was from

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. A member of the

Iowa Democratic Party The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Iowa. While existing when Iowa was granted statehood in 1846, it did not gain broad electoral success until the mid-1950s, when demographic changes ...

, he served in the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

and as the

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

attorney.

Early life

Born in

Montezuma, Iowa Montezuma is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,442 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Poweshiek County. Geography Montezuma's longitude and latitude coordinates in decimal form are 41.58 ...

, Johnston attended the public schools in

Marshalltown Marshalltown is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Iowa, United States, located along the Iowa River. It is the seat and most populous settlement of Marshall County and the 16th largest city in Iowa, with a population of 27,591 at ...

and Toledo before earning a bachelor's degree from

Westmar College Westmar University was a private four-year liberal arts college in Le Mars, Iowa, United States. It permanently closed on November 21, 1997. Westmar University was founded in 1887 as the Northwestern Normal School and Business College by Jaco ...

, attending

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

and earning a law degree from

Drake University Law School Drake University Law School is a professional graduate law school of Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa. The school has over 330 full-time students. The school is led by Dean Jerry Anderson. Founded in 1865, Drake Law School is one of t ...

Career

He served as an assistant Iowa attorney general before being elected to the Iowa House in 1966. Rather than seek re-election in 1968, he ran for

Iowa Attorney General The Attorney General of Iowa is the chief legal officer of the State of Iowa, United States. The office was created February 9, 1853. The Office of the Attorney General is housed in the Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines; the attorney g ...

, winning the Democratic nomination before losing the general election to

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Richard C. Turner. In 1975, he began working for the

National Center for State Courts The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is an independent, non-profit organization focused on improving the administration of justice in the United States and around the world. Its efforts are directed by a 27-member board of directors and thr ...

. He was elected

attorney in 1976, serving from 1977 to 1985, when he decided to resign and move to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In New York, he served as director of

Gay Men's Health Crisis The GMHC (formerly Gay Men's Health Crisis) is a New York City–based non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization whose mission statement is to "end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected." Hist ...

from 1987 to 1990 and on the New York police civilian complaint review board from 1986 to 1990. He then lived in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and worked as general counsel for the criminal justice subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

''Tinker v. Des Moines''

Johnston's highest profile case as a lawyer was '' Tinker v. Des Moines'', a case about the free speech rights of two Des Moines public school students who wore black armbands to protest the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and were subsequently suspended by school administrators. Johnston argued and won the case in front of the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1969, when he was just over a year out of law school.

Electoral history

Personal life

Johnston was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

; his partner for more than 35 years was Norman Jesse, who also served in the Iowa House. Neither Johnston nor Jesse was publicly out as gay during their careers in politics. They maintained separate residences across the street from each other and rarely spent the night together in the same bed. Johnston's sexual orientation became an issue when he ran for re-election as Polk County attorney in 1980. Persistent rumors of his homosexuality culminated in a caller questioning Johnston on a local radio talk show. Johnston refused to answer, saying "that nobody had any business asking the question". Johnston died of cancer on October 21, 2016 in a hospice in Des Moines, Iowa.Dan Johnson: Defender of Civil Rights Has Died
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Dan 1938 births 2016 deaths Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives LGBT state legislators in Iowa Gay politicians Politicians from Des Moines, Iowa People from Montezuma, Iowa Iowa State University alumni Westmar University alumni District attorneys in Iowa Deaths from cancer in Iowa 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century LGBT people Drake University Law School alumni