Alan Turing Likely To Be Given Posthumous Pardon 210
pegdhcp writes with news that the UK government has signaled its intent to support a bill that would issue a posthumous pardon to Alan Turing, who is known for his work in defeating the German Enigma code machines in World War II and widely considered the father of computer science. Turing was charged with and convicted of "gross indecency" in 1952 for being gay. He was sentenced to chemical castration, and he committed suicide two years later.
"The announcement marks a change of heart by the government, which declined last year to grant pardons to the 49,000 gay men, now dead, who were convicted under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act. They include Oscar Wilde. ... [Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon] told peers: "Alan Turing himself believed that homosexual activity would be made legal by a royal commission. In fact, appropriately, it was parliament which decriminalized the activity for which he was convicted. The government are very aware of the calls to pardon Turing, given his outstanding achievements, and have great sympathy with this objective That is why the government believe it is right that parliament should be free to respond to this bill in whatever way its conscience dictates and in whatever way it so wills."
Re:Screw them (Score:5, Informative)
No, the pardon is specifically for Alan Turing. That's why it's called the "Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill [HL] 2012-13"
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/alanturingstatutorypardon.html [parliament.uk]
Re:Screw them (Score:5, Informative)
Before you carry on with this tirade: a former prime minister already did this.
Google "Gordon Brown Alan Turing Apology"
Re:Screw them (Score:5, Informative)
Chill out, they already issued an apology [bbc.co.uk] a few years ago.