PM issues apology over Alan Turing
09-11-2009, 12:28 PM
Yesterday, the official website of the Prime Minister's office published an apology for the treatment of Alan Turing and many others who found themselves in his situation. This has come after a long campaign for Mr Turing's rehabilitation after he was the victim of homophobic law during the 1950s. To quote from the statement:
Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. 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. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison - was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.
Full text of the statement
Nothing will ever compensate for Mr Turing's treatment, but a statement like this has been long overdue, considering the years of embarrassment and real suffering caused to Mr Turing, his family and friends and others in similar situations. Even after homosexual acts in private between consenting adults were legalised in 1967 homophobic victimisation of glbt men and women continued with official sanction. For many in the world the suffering goes on and even here the war is not yet fully over, but these are remarkable times in which to live.
Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. 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. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison - was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.
Full text of the statement
Nothing will ever compensate for Mr Turing's treatment, but a statement like this has been long overdue, considering the years of embarrassment and real suffering caused to Mr Turing, his family and friends and others in similar situations. Even after homosexual acts in private between consenting adults were legalised in 1967 homophobic victimisation of glbt men and women continued with official sanction. For many in the world the suffering goes on and even here the war is not yet fully over, but these are remarkable times in which to live.
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