Petition: Honour Turing's Legacy: Pardon All Men Convicted for Being Gay!
Honour Turing's Legacy: Pardon All Men Convicted for Being Gay!
Alan Turing was posthumously pardoned by the Queen for his conviction under the "Gross Indecency" law that punished men for being gay. Now, it's time we extended that pardon.
The pardoning of Alan Turing was a step in the right direction - an acknowledgement that Britain's policies toward gay men were at one time completely misguided. But this single symbolic pardon isn't enough. There are still 15,000 men living today who were charged with the same crime.
Beginning in 1885, these men were charged with "gross indecency" and sentenced to jail, manual labor, and even chemical castration, as was the case in Turing's sentence. The law was written such that judges and lawyers could prosecute almost any case of homosexual acts where it could not be proven that there was sex involved.
Please sign the petition asking for the UK government to pardon the remaining men who were charged under the "gross indecency" laws.
This entry was originally posted at http://ceruleancat.dreamwidth.org/11614.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Alan Turing was posthumously pardoned by the Queen for his conviction under the "Gross Indecency" law that punished men for being gay. Now, it's time we extended that pardon.
The pardoning of Alan Turing was a step in the right direction - an acknowledgement that Britain's policies toward gay men were at one time completely misguided. But this single symbolic pardon isn't enough. There are still 15,000 men living today who were charged with the same crime.
Beginning in 1885, these men were charged with "gross indecency" and sentenced to jail, manual labor, and even chemical castration, as was the case in Turing's sentence. The law was written such that judges and lawyers could prosecute almost any case of homosexual acts where it could not be proven that there was sex involved.
Please sign the petition asking for the UK government to pardon the remaining men who were charged under the "gross indecency" laws.
This entry was originally posted at http://ceruleancat.dreamwidth.org/11614.html. Please comment there using OpenID.