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WWII codebreaker Alan Turing gets royal pardon for gay conviction
CBS News ^ | 12/24/2013 | Reuters

Posted on 12/24/2013 9:14:14 AM PST by thetallguy24

Mathematician Alan Turing, who helped Britain win World War Two by cracking Nazi Germany's "unbreakable" Enigma code, was granted a rare royal pardon on Tuesday for a criminal conviction for homosexuality that led to his suicide.

Turing's electromechanical machine, a forerunner of modern computers, unravelled the code used by German U-boats in the Atlantic. His work at Bletchley Park, Britain's wartime codebreaking centre, was credited with shortening the war.

However, he was stripped of his job and chemically castrated with injections of female hormones after being convicted of gross indecency in 1952 for having sex with a man. Homosexual sex was illegal in Britain until 1967.

Turing killed himself in 1954, aged 41, with cyanide.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: britain; gay; homosexual; lavendermafia; pinkjournalism; queen; revisionisthistory; seebsnews; tempestinateapot; whocares
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To: Jim from C-Town

It’d be nice if you had any evidence to these theories of yours, but as it stands now, there’s no evidence he was charged differently than if he would have been a butcher, a baker, or any average schmo.


101 posted on 12/29/2013 6:10:49 PM PST by GunRunner
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To: GunRunner
Exactly! He broke the law and was punished accordingly. What does his war record have to do with it? Will the common butcher or baker that was convicted for this crime now be pardoned? No.

Besides, the fact that he had a security clearance of the highest order only made his act of stupidity that much more dangerous.

102 posted on 12/30/2013 7:39:31 AM PST by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: Jim from C-Town

Ok, well at least you’ve finally admitted that security clearance had nothing to do with the charges. Would’ve helped if you admitted it up front.


103 posted on 01/02/2014 7:15:33 AM PST by GunRunner
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