Posted on 09/11/2009 3:49:52 PM PDT by steve-b
The Prime Minister has released a statement on the Second World War code-breaker, Alan Turing, recognising the "appalling" way he was treated for being gay.
Alan Turing, a mathematician most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes, was convicted of 'gross indecency' in 1952 and sentenced to chemical castration.
Gordon Brown's statement came in response to a petition posted on the Number 10 website which has received thousands of signatures in recent months.
Read the statement
2009 has been a year of deep reflection -- a chance for Britain, as a nation, to commemorate the profound debts we owe to those who came before. A unique combination of anniversaries and events have stirred in us that sense of pride and gratitude which characterise the British experience. Earlier this year I stood with Presidents Sarkozy and Obama to honour the service and the sacrifice of the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago. And just last week, we marked the 70 years which have passed since the British government declared its willingness to take up arms against Fascism and declared the outbreak of World War Two. So I am both pleased and proud that, thanks to a coalition of computer scientists, historians and LGBT activists, we have this year a chance to mark and celebrate another contribution to Britain's fight against the darkness of dictatorship; that of code-breaker Alan Turing.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.
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.
Gordon Brown
Wouldn't that make him...you know...more flamingly homosexual?
Can’t trust poofers. Good rule of thumb.
He suggested that his 19 year old male lover might have been among the young men who robbed him.
He was later convicted on 12 counts.
Just looking up the Age of Majority in UK at that time, and it was 21. So Alan, like many risky gay blades of his time, was messing with a minor.
Certainly a well-known homosexual like Turing would not want for ADULT lovers ~ so he was taking risks ~ kind of like the office thief at work who liked to steal small things from people ~ personal things, and then set them out on her desk like trophies.
He later on may have commited suicide or accidentally poisoned himself while eating an apple.
Like many homosexuals of his time (or now) he may well have gloried in the tawdrier and more unwashed side of life ~ and all he had to do was wash his hands regularly to live (as suggested by his own mother).
I don't buy it that this genius commited suicide. He was just a nasty guy who wasn't all that clean.
Personal hygiene is not just a condom.
He grew breasts.
Britain sinks deeper into the black hole of political correctness. Should we go easier on a brilliant mathematician who is also a crazed killer? No. One has nothing to do with the other. If he is a great mathematician, he deserves to be recognized for it. If he is a depraved human being, he deserves to be ostracized for it — or worse.
Libs... always wanting to drag us deeper into that black hole. I know lots of mathematicians who should be castrated. All of them are libs.
The guy was buggering underage (at that time) teenage boys?
Sick.
Just a straight up and down ~ of age, or not of age.
So Turing was not satisfied with the law and violated it.
>>> Can’t trust poofers. Good rule of thumb.
Not even to mention his role in creating the computers we are using this moment, somebody breaks the NAZI codes letting Ike know what the Germans were going to do even before the German commanders knew I wouldn’t care if he poofs, puffs, or pops. He has my respect, gratitude, and thanks.
And really what has “trust” to do with castrating a man who had harmed nobody.
A Muslim court this week said it would whip a woman for wearing trousers. It’s the same principle as what was done to Turing, except the lady will heal from the lashing. I guess they reason like you, you can’t “trust” a lady who pants. Good rule of thumb.
“Rule of thumb” btw is the permitted diameter of a stick with which you could legally beat a woman.
I'm sure the concept of disagreeing with and disregarding the government's decrees will give all good FReepers a severe case of the vapors.
Now, how about you? Into minors? Best visit Maryland while the Baltimore City Prosecutor thinks it's OK.
It's an "open city".
I think some local Moslem nut-jobs got their wires crossed ~ that'll happen where there's sufficient ignorance.
Now, back to Turing, he knew the law ~ he was a smart guy in fact ~ and he chose to break it for the purpose of....... having sex with a minor!
A man of Turing's status in that society at that time would have had no problem finding sexual partners of a suitible age (under UK laws at the time).
Now, should have been chemically castrated? Not for us to decide ~ that was a belief current at the time ~ just like old Joe Kennedy's idea that what his daughter needed to tame her libido was a frontal lobotomy!
a bit sensitive?
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