Treatment of Alan Turing was "appalling" -PM

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571

Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction.

I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue.

But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate - by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices - that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.

So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.

I wish I could post the whole thing, it's well worth the read. He deserved so much more, but I'm glad to see at least this went through.

[Betty Karlson]

1. Kicked and recommended. Is there a link? (N/T)

[Starry Messenger]

2. Hi Betty, thank you.

I have the URL linked above the block quote. Is it not working? Let me know and I will edit.

[qb]

3. The link works. I was unaware of his appalling treatment.

Chemical castration leading to his suicide two years later.
Mr. Turing deserves to be honored and his family is due an official apology.

[philly_bob]

4. Appalling indeed. A sin of the psychiatric & legal professions. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

5. Ah, finally a good news link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/sep/11/turing-apology-gay

The prime minister's apology says: "It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely."

The apology was prompted by an E-Petition at the Number10.gov site, which attracted more than 30,000 signatures.

The petition was launched by John Graham-Cumming, a computer scientist, blogger, and author of The Geek Atlas. In early August, he wrote that: "If 500 people sign it there will eventually be a response from the government". It reached a much bigger audience with the backing of supporters such as Ian McEwan, Richard Dawkins, and gay-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

But as Graham-Cumming commented later: "You don't have to be gay to think that prosecuting a man for a private consensual sex act who just seven years before had been hailed as a hero of the Second World War was simply wrong. You simply have to be human."

(The statement of apology from PM Brown was also mirrored at the Telegraph, but the UK equivalent of Freepers had a lot of comments on it, so I haven't linked it.)

[DarkTirade]

6. That would be an indescribably large understatement.

[Bear down under]

7. Very welcome, but it's a first step

If Brown really wants to do the right thing, he'll take this further and recommend to the Queen that she give Dr Turing a (posthumous) Royal Pardon.

Re-interring his remains in Westmister Abbey would be appropriate too.

[Starry Messenger]

8. Agreed.