Alan Turing, gay computer scientist, receives apology from UK Prime Minister 55 years after suicide
”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….”
“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.”
”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.”
”…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.”
Outakes from an official apology issued by Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown for Alan Turing. A petition was signed by thousands of people asking for recognition of the famous groundbreaking code breaker and computer scientist. (Number10.gov.uk) (Guardian.co.uk)
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