An online petition calling for the government to posthumously pardon Alan Turing and quash his conviction for gross indecency has been launched.
The gay computer pioneer was convicted of the offence in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK.
Two years later, he died from cyanide poisoning, which an inquest ruled was suicide.
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or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.
“You must be a British citizen or normally live in the UK to create or sign e-petitions.”
About seven percent of my readers hail from England. So another one or two percent are probably “British.” Maybe.
Correction… 7 percent are UK.
I’m sure you have many British readers. I just posted the info so those who are not subjects of the Queen would know that there’s no point in clicking.
It is much appreciated.
Have you noticed Tom Levenson’s tweets on this? I wish he had posted them here as a comment!
The British government offered an apology for the treatment and Turing about two years ago. A pardon at this point seems to be a formality. It’s still a good thing though.
Hmmmm… No, actually, I’m not going to sign this. I think it’s unfair to single out Alan Turing in this particular way. Sure, great guy, hugely important, helped us win WWII, yadda yadda, but I don’t think that makes him any more deserving of a pardon that any other homosexual who was persecuted by the state. Pardoning him specifically sends the message that he was one of the (very few) “good gays”, whilst the rest weren’t. If people think he deserves recognition for his work (which I would agree with) then some sort of posthumous honour would seem more appropriate.
Now, if somebody were to set up a petition calling for the pardon of all homosexuals convicted for consensual acts which would now be legal, I’d be more than happy to sign it.
You can do that. I don’t think it’s hard. Maybe a global one though, calling for the British to pardon all people conficted or charged under their old laws. The whole world is watching (what you did) kinda thing.