Alan Turing to be pardoned but so should all convicted under anti-gay law

July 20, 2013 · found by

Alan Turing, the British World War 2 codebreaker and mathematician who is considered the father of modern computer science may receive a post-humous pardon for his 1952 conviction of gross indecency if a private member’s bill is successful. Turning took his own like in 1954, poisoning himself with a cyanide laced apple after being subjected to “chemical castration”, following his conviction under the UK’s anti-homosexuality law.

During the second world war Turing worked with the secret code-breaking effort at Bletchley Park outside London, and he successfully broke the German’s encryption used in their Enigma machines. In the process Turing and others (including his colleague Tommy Flowers) developed a super-secret electronic computer, Colossus, to break the ciphers. The computer was destroyed after the word and its existence has only come to late in recent years (proving the UK developed the first electronic computer). Turing went on to develop some of the theories of modern computing and the Turing test for vetting artificial intelligence bares his name as a result of his theories.

While the UK government knows Turing was a war hero, efforts to pardon him have until now been unsuccessful, but the latest move signalled the governments support for the backbench bill. Lord Ahmad, a whip for the ruling Conservative party, has told his fellow Lords that the government would table the bill for a third and final reading (and debate), effectively endorsing it. The bill could pass in October and be sent to the elected lower-house (the House of Commons). Last year the same government declined to pardon the estimated 49,000 gay men who were convicted under a criminal law created in 1885, the same law that convicted Oscar Wilde.

Pardoning Turing would be the correct move for a man so important in history, and also as a figure in gay history. However even those who support pardoning Turing are calling for the pardoning to be for being persecuted for being gay, not because it’s a war hero. This also raises the issue that the law was wrong and all victims should be pardoned, or given an apology. One person commented on Twitter that Turing didn’t do anything that he would need to be pardoned for.

It appears that while a pardon for Turing is welcome, a pardon or apology for all gay men convicted would be more appropriate. If Alan Turing is the catalyst for this, then all the better, he is already remembered in history for his brilliance and sacrifice.