Turing petition seeks pardon of 49,000 british gays

[dab69]

Relatives of wartime codebreaker Alan Turing, subject of Oscar-winning film "The Imitation Game", will on Monday hand in a petition calling for the pardoning of 49,000 men prosecuted like him for homosexuality.

Nearly half a million people signed the petition via website Change.org.

Turing's great-nephew Nevil Hunt, his great-niece Rachel Barnes and her son Thomas, are scheduled to deliver the petition to 10 Downing Street.
https://www.change.org/p/british-government-pardon-all-of-the-estimated-49-000-men-who-like-alan-turing-were-convicted-of-consenting-same-sex-relations-under-the-british-gross-indecency-law-only-repealed-in-2003-and-also-all-the-other-men-convicted-under-other-uk-anti-gay-la

[fountainhall]

That's an impressive number of signatures and I hope that alongside the huge success of the movie the UK government will give it serious consideration. But I cannot see it agreeing to a flood of retroactive pardons. Would that not open the door for any number of other potential pardon petitions relating to what were crimes prior to laws being changed? What of the suffragettes, for one, who were sent to jail and then force-fed when they went on hunger strike? Close to death they'd be let out of jail only to be rearrested once they had regained some strength. If they died out of prison, the government could wash its collective hands of them. And what of those branded as cowards and subjected to immediate courts martial and the firing squad in World War 1? We know now that many of these young men and boys were suffering from gas poisoning or some form of severe traumatic stress disorder. A petition has already been submitted to pardon 306 British and Empire troops whose names do not even appear on any war memorials. That has faced a lot of opposition from many who believe it is impossible to condemn the events of a century ago from a modern-day perspective.

[bkkguy]

But I cannot see it agreeing to a flood of retroactive pardons. Would that not open the door for any number of other potential pardon petitions relating to what were crimes prior to laws being changed?

but did not the Turing pardon already open that door, and this is the first of those partitions

as much as I admire Turing and his work, and not just his war work, I agree with Dr Andrew Hodges (the acclaimed Turing biographer) who at the time of the Touring pardon said:


Alan Turing suffered appalling treatment 60 years ago and there has been a very well intended and deeply felt campaign to remedy it in some way. Unfortunately, I cannot feel that such a 'pardon' embodies any good legal principle. If anything, it suggests that a sufficiently valuable individual should be above the law which applies to everyone else.

It's far more important that in the 30 years since I brought the story to public attention, LGBT rights movements have succeeded with a complete change in the law тАУ for all. So, for me, this symbolic action adds nothing.

if the objective was to ensure Turing is remembered for the important part he played in the war and in the development of computing there were many other options available rather than opening the Pandora's box of a royal pardon not based on the usual requirements of innocence and request from a party with a vested interest.

The current petition does not meet the usual requirements either, and as you pointed out opens a whole new can of worms!

bkkguy

[fountainhall]

In a move that some will see as electioneering by jumping on "The Invitation Game" bandwagon, the Leader of the UK's Labour Party has stated he will introduce a bill to pardon homosexuals previously convicted under historical indecency laws - if his party wins the upcoming General Election expected to take place in May. The new bill would be named "Turing's Law".


тАЬWhat was right for Alan TuringтАЩs family should be right for other families as well,тАЭ said the opposition leader. тАЬThe next Labour government will extend the right individuals already have to overturn convictions that society now see as grossly unfair to the relatives of those convicted who have passed away.тАЭ
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/m ... conviction (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/03/miliband-promises-turing-law-posthumous-pardons-gay-conviction)