Alan Turing Receives Royal Pardon For Homosexuality Conviction

[Longstreet]

Election time coming up over there or something?

Seriously who gives a fuck?

He is dead. That lover he had is probably dead by now. What was left of his family is most likely also dead or never knew the guy.

Why is something like this even a thing.

 

[McMullen]

It is unfortunate that great minds are so often at the mercy and whims of lesser ones. This is a meaningless gesture; he died knowing he was betrayed by the country he arguably helped to save, there is no erasing that. I think this is more an effort on the part of those who were around at the time (I think Elizabeth was in her teens or something) to ease the shame they feel at being part of such a wretched society.

Of course, most of them had little to do with it either. The ones who did are likely dead. So, like many of our own [the US'] historical mistakes, there's no making it right. Turing is dead and unable to know that the UK eventually decided it was wrong, and those who wrote the laws and prosecuted him are dead and unable to feel regret or shame. All we can do is try to avoid repeating this mistake. Not sure whether a pardon to make the living feel better distracts from this or not.

 

[Varya]

God, if you're feeling too upbeat, just read the coments on a genuinely great thing on Christmas eve and you'll get down to earth. Seriously, this is great and important.

 

[Albino Boo]

So why did MI5 know he was gay in the 1940s and did nothing. Its not like the security services can stage a breaking or anything.

You're entering serious conspiracy theory territory, and Turing's boyfriend knew the burglars so this really probably wasn't an MI5 sting operation.

Please explain why there was no action for a decede until shortly after the naming of the discovering of the Cambridge ring. He wasn't a member of the ring but many gay men that had sensitive security positions were caught up in security clampdown. It had previously been thought that gay men were less of risk because they would be immune to female honey traps. However in the light of the Cambridge ring and the American anger that followed, policy changed and things that were overlooked before were acted upon. Turning had been in the habit of visiting Finland and Sweden because homosexuallity was legeal there but those locations were also full of NKVD/KGB agents. There has been no suggestion that Turing was a spy but he went from a low risk category to high risk one because of the Cambridge ring.

 

[Ticklefist]

God, if you're feeling too upbeat, just read the coments on a genuinely great thing on Christmas eve and you'll get down to earth. Seriously, this is great and important.

Precisely. Hopefully the rest of the world understands the gesture and moves forward.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Wow, so it took like 60-some years for the Queen to pardon him?

GG government, also hiding it behind flimsy excuses such as "it was illegal at the time" is bollocks, as at those times, on the other side of the world, it was also acceptable to institutionalize witch hunts under the veil of patriotism and "doing right by your countreh".

Fuck, the amount of stuff that Turing had done for England and the World deserved a pardon in the late 80's at the latest.

 

[Zacharious-khan]

Please explain why there was no action for a decede until shortly after the naming of the discovering of the Cambridge ring. He wasn't a member of the ring but many gay men that had sensitive security positions were caught up in security clampdown. It had previously been thought that gay men were less of risk because they would be immune to female honey traps. However in the light of the Cambridge ring and the American anger that followed, policy changed and things that were overlooked before were acted upon. Turning had been in the habit of visiting Finland and Sweden because homosexuallity was legeal there but those locations were also full of NKVD/KGB agents. There has been no suggestion that Turing was a spy but he went from a low risk category to high risk one because of the Cambridge ring.

That logic is cum hoc ergo propter hoc and therefore fallacious without less speculative evidence

 

[Objectable]

This shouldn't have happened, plain and simple.
I find it insulting, just because Turing was a large help in the war he alone gets a pardon? It's like saying "It's a good thing you were so smart, because if you weren't prosecuting you for being homosexual is still ok" I find this detestable.

Turing was special but not in this way, he was just one of the thousands who were given the choice of chemical castration or jail and not a one of them was guilty.

...I think it has to do more that he was arrested for a really, really stupid and horrible law.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Well, I'm glad he's around to appreciate...oh wait.

Yeah, this doesn't seem like much of anything. It's a nice gesture, sure, but Turing doesn't benefit from this, and I seriously doubt this will change the public's perception of him.

 

[Zacharious-khan]

It was but i feel like this singles him out and makes an exception when really it was wrong in every case

 

[Bujiraso]

I retweeted this on twitter, I will say it here

It's not ok to be gay because someone's a genius.
It's just ok to be gay.
They should pardon EVERYONE or no one. And it should be obvious which is the right thing to do.

 

[Tradjus]

About &$*&ing time.
Hopefully the politically repressed of today won't have to wait until fourty years after their deaths to gain the same sorts of reprieves.

 

[teamcharlie]

Okay. Chill. This is a good thing. It's not the best possible response to the situation, but it's certainly not a bad thing either. Alan Turing deserved to be pardoned on the spot, and he finally has been. It's too late to save his life but a public admission that he was both awesome and treated unjustly by his government is still worthwhile.

 

[Arakasi]

This may set an interesting legal president. I wonder how they will handle future requests from people's families of less-well known figures?

 

[Zipa]

It is about time, the British government should be fucking ashamed of how shitty they treated one of the greatest minds of the age, a man that helped to shorten WWII and saving lives by doing so. That and Colossus becoming the daddy of computers.

That said he shouldn't be the lone person who was chemically castrated or jailed in such a manner just because of his fame it should be done to all such victims because the British government actually believes a injustice was done to these people.

 

[The Material Sheep]

Good to hear this happened. Lets just hope it wasn't just because of his fame.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Also for historical accuracy, it wasn't prison it was house arrest.

Edits: the house arrest was for 1 year, the same as the chemical castration and it was only meant to reduce his sex drive not castrate him permanently.
But thankfully these laws have been done away with in the civilised world.

 

[Lunar Templar]

wow ... that was a crime? really? I have no words for how utterly detestable that is.