Alan Turing Receives Royal Pardon For Homosexuality Conviction

[CrazyGirl17]

Yeah, it's a nice gesture, but it's a little late for that. And seriously, homosexuality was a crime back then? That's just wrong...

 

[Caiphus]

Yeah, it's a nice gesture, but it's a little late for that. And seriously, homosexuality was a crime back then? That's just wrong...

Yes, most English ex-colonies only really decriminalised homosexuality in the last 40 years. I think it was decriminalised in my country, New Zealand, in 1986. With no small amount of opposition as well, of course.

In fact, here, for your perusal at your convenience

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy_law

 

[Zombie_Fish]

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.

And it wasn't stupid and horrible for the thousands of others found guilty and punished for gross indecency?

 

[hazydawn]

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.

Thanks, that's what I thought...
Additionally, this sends the message that the life of exceptional people is worth more than those of others.

"saying that it would be inappropriate to pardon someone who was 'properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offense.'"
Yeah, with that line of argumentation we can excuse anything that happened according to unjust, human rights defying laws. For instance the Nuremberg Laws

 

[rcs619]

Huh, that's only 61 years late.

Hey, to be fair, in the category of "Modern people apologizing for terrible moral crimes in the past" this case is actually pretty speedy. I mean, the Catholic Church convicted Galileo of heresy in 1633, and it took them until 1992 to finally pardon him on those charges and basically do the religious equivalent of "My bad, dawg."

And, look at the Tuskegee Experiment (where the United States government intentionally infected about 600, exclusively black, men between 1932 and 1972 with syphilis without telling them. The point of the experiment, to find out the long-term effects of being infected with syphilis and not receiving any treatment for it). There wasn't an official presidential apology for that until 1997 when Bill Clinton finally did it.

 

[MorganL4]

Yeah, at this point I think it must have been a slow news day for this to make news. I mean it's been over 40 years since homosexuality was a crime in britain. I think this is less a sincere amends and more just someone trying to get their name in a news article by mentioning someone famous.

Absolutely wrong. He was one of the primary unsung heroes of World War II, and a major reason why the field of computer science is the way it is today. Without him, we might be decades behind where we are. Given the work he did for his country, his conviction was a travesty, and I'm glad to see him pardoned, even if the many others convicted under the statute likely won't get the same.

Also, the Queen is just trying to get her name in the news? Really?

Well, yeah...... Of course the queen is trying to get her name in the news, I mean it has been and ENTIRE 4 hours since a news story was done on the royal family... That is UNACCEPTABLE.

http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/12/24/kate-middleton-pregnant-baby-hoping-for-girl/

 

[LiMaSaRe]

Either pardon everyone who was ever convicted of homosexuality or let the undeniable conviction stand. What are they saying, "because of his incredible achievements, we have determined that Mr. Turing can't have been gay"?

 

[DaWaffledude]

Better now than in another 60 years...

 

[jackpipsam]

It's good to it see finally done.
Good job Queen

 

[Headsprouter]

Well, if you needed any more proof of the presence of white, grey-haired men in the British Government, there you have it. I'm surprised Gordon Brown had the sense...then again, it was probably a stunt.

Y'know, if something was "right at the time" that doesn't excuse it. I'm sure Jesus's crucification was "right a the time", and look at how regretful the Christian faith is supposed to be.

Furthermore, we don't pardon black people because of Martin Luther King, we pardon them because they were all human beings, as was Mr. Turing the genius who happened to like men.

Stupid thing. "Seemed like a good idea at the time", I wish I could get away with that excuse.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Well, glad this has happened.

But rather than pardoning Turing for his 'crime', shouldn't we be asking for a pardon from Turing's relatives for treating him in such a shitty way?

This announcement comes across as magnanimous rather than repentant, which is the wrong way to approach this issue if you ask me.

 

[Zoe Castillo]

You'd think that being a genius /helping defeat the Nazis and win world war 2 would earn you the right to enjoy dick?.
Youd think

 

[CriticalMiss]

Also, the Queen is just trying to get her name in the news? Really?

She's always doing stuff like this for attention. She even put herself on stamps!

It's about time that they officially apologised, but they should be apologising for every single person who was convicted not just a famous one. Unfortunately that's not going to happen.

 

[Me55enger]

If it proves anything, it proves how times have changed.

It's a shame that in this case, he was pardoned because of his fame, as opposed to a general feeling of cultural remorse.

 

[roski]

Ahw, that's nice, some breadcrumbs of retrospective justice.

 

[lacktheknack]

ITT: Looking ALL the gift horses in the mouth.

ALL of them.

And by "looking", I mean "ripping the jaw off of the horse and examining the teeth under a microscope".

Never change, Escapist.

 

[M920CAIN]

Cool! Who's going to tell him the news? Do you guys have his email address or have him on twitter? Riight, I read about him, a bit about his bio too when studying some computer science thingies, but the sad thing is that things like this are still happening, so his case should be a reminder to us to be more, I dunno, understanding? I know, I know... it will never happen, we humans have trust issues and so on and sometimes we invent things, some true, some not so true. In any case, good for him. RIP.