• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Thousands of gay men in UK to be pardoned for now-abolished sex offenses

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Gordon Shumway

Banned
Thousands of gay men in UK to be pardoned for now-abolished sex offenses
By Bianca Britton, CNN

"Turing Law" is named for WWII codebreaker Alan Turing, subject of the 2014 film "The Imitation Game"
Some campaigners say the law change does not go far enough
London (CNN)Tens of thousands of gay and bisexual men who were convicted of now-abolished sexual offenses in Britain will be posthumously pardoned, the government announced Thursday.

The government proposal will also make it easier for living Britons, convicted years ago of since-decriminalized sexual behavior, to clear their names.

The proposal has been dubbed the "Turing Law" -- named after World War II codebreaker Alan Turing, subject of the 2014 film "The Imitation Game." Turing committed suicide in 1954 after he was subjected to chemical castration as punishment for homosexual activity. In 2013, nearly 60 years later, he received a posthumous royal pardon from Queen Elizabeth II.

Anyone previously convicted of the abolished laws can already apply through the UK's Home Office to have their names cleared and wiped from criminal record checks. But under the new law, the government will automatically pardon living men convicted of historical sexual offenses "who would be innocent of any crime today," Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said in a statement.
Click to expand...

Read more and watch video from the source..

🌈
 
M

Morat

Banned
The problem with 'pardon' is it implies they did something wrong and are being forgiven/let off for it.
 
Ray Wonder

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I thought it might be some ceremonial thing from far back in history, but this wasn't that long ago these laws existed.

Private homosexual acts for men aged over 21 were decriminalized in England and Wales in 1967. However the law was not changed in Scotland until 1980 or in Northern Ireland until 1982.
Click to expand...
 
E

echoshifting

Banned
Morat said:
The problem with 'pardon' is it implies they did something wrong and are being forgiven/let off for it.
Click to expand...

This so much. Alan Turing saved countless lives and helped end the war. They pardoned him for being gay? After chemically castrating him and driving him to suicide? What the fuck. It's sickening enough it took that long.

To say nothing of all of the people who have been living under the shadow of this injustice for decades.
 
M

Morat

Banned
echoshifting said:
This so much. Alan Turing saved countless lives and helped end the war. They pardoned him for being gay? After chemically castrating him and driving him to suicide? What the fuck. It's sickening enough it took that long.

To say nothing of all of the people who have been living under the shadow of this injustice for decades.
Click to expand...

Yeah. While the current gov is not responsible for those horrors, I think an official apology to those whose lives were destroyed is in order. 'It was illegal at the time' does not excuse a barbaric law.
 
G

Gordon Shumway

Banned
Morat said:
Yeah. While the current gov is not responsible for those horrors, I think an official apology to those whose lives were destroyed is in order. 'It was illegal at the time' does not excuse a barbaric law.
Click to expand...

Is it perhaps that they're trying to steer clear of any language that would prompt some to expect compensation?
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Aurongel said:
Chemical castration.

Jesus fucking Christ, England.
Click to expand...

The UK, not England - Scotland and Northern Ireland have historically been much worse on this issue.

At the time, homosexuality was still considered an illness. If you were convicted, you had a choice between imprisonment or chemical castration. Chemical castration was seen as the 'nice' option because it was perceived as a cure, so by taking it you showed you were taking your problem seriously and therefore allowed to forego imprisonment. You can actually still volunteer to be chemically castrated in England and Wales now if you are convicted of paedophilia (although it doesn't allow you to avoid imprisonment now). Just over 100 people have volunteered since 2007. The process is (mostly) reversible.

England & Wales still abolished sodomy laws before every US state bar one (Illinois), and before Australia, Canada, West Germany, New Zealand, and various other Western nations. I'm not aware that any of these states have ever issued pardons to those convicted; nor am I aware of any of those states giving compensation. The UK has issued an apology before - the significance of a pardon is that it allows people to remove this from their criminal record, so that you don't end up with your sexuality revealed whenever someone does a criminal record check.

Very late, but very welcome.
 
C

CDX

Member
Ray Wonder said:
I thought it might be some ceremonial thing from far back in history, but this wasn't that long ago these laws existed.

Private homosexual acts for men aged over 21 were decriminalized in England and Wales in 1967. However the law was not changed in Scotland until 1980 or in Northern Ireland until 1982.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

1967. The Supreme Court case "Lawrence v. Texas" in the U.S. wasn't until 2003, when same-sex sexual activity was made legal in every U.S. state.




Straight Edge said:
Not saying it's good but chemical castration just reduces libido and is reversible. Your balls don't shrivel up or anything.
Click to expand...

But before his suicide, Alan Turing supposedly grew breasts from whatever they made him take.
 
M

MassiveNights

Banned
This bill was put forward by John Nicolson of the SNP.

The Tories have just killed it by talking it out i.e. a filibuster.

Thread title is a bit premature due to our absolute shambles of a government.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Surprised many didn't know about this. I think I saw a documentary on this ages ago, mostly from learning about Alan Turing of the Turing test fame.
 
M

MassiveNights

Banned
B

Boney

Banned
Morat said:
The problem with 'pardon' is it implies they did something wrong and are being forgiven/let off for it.
Click to expand...
Well nobody is probably still alive that played a role in that. But Turing Law should've been in act right after the Gay witch hunting law was over.

This is a prime example I use whenever somebody pushes the western moral superiority.
 
N

norinrad

Member
The Government don't want to be sued by relatives of the ones long gone and those still living for all the awful things they did to destroy the lives of these men.
 
B

Boy Wander

Member
Apologies for dredging up an old thread but thought it was worth pointing out that this has been enacted today, meaning that 49,000 people have been posthumously pardoned for crimes of which they would be innocent today.

For those who previously pointed out that 'pardoned' implies that they did something wrong, according to the laws of the day, they did - pardoning them means that it has been recognised that they shouldn't have been found guilty of a crime in the first place given today's laws and that they have been exonerated of such crimes.
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
RedHill said:
It took this long? What the fuck UK?
Click to expand...
It took this long to grant the pardons.

Other countries have not done so and abolished their laws against such activities much later. The UK seems to be well ahead of most of the western world here, including the US.
What the fuck rest of the world?
 
R

RedHill

Banned
Lagamorph said:
It took this long to grant the pardons.

Other countries have not done so and abolished their laws against such activities much later. The UK seems to be well ahead of most of the western world here, including the US.
What the fuck rest of the world?
Click to expand...
Nah, what the fuck to the UK, the topic at hand. It's disgusting that it's still happening worldwide but we're talking about the UK here. Don't derail what I said.
 
B

Boy Wander

Member
RedHill said:
Nah, what the fuck to the UK, the topic at hand. It's disgusting that it's still happening worldwide but we're talking about the UK here. Don't derail what I said.
Click to expand...

What are you surprised about? The fact that it has taken until 2017 to pardon them or the fact that it took from September to January to enact the bill. Because if it's the latter, then I don't think it's unusual for the wheels of Parliament to turn that slowly. Unless of course you've got a Brexit bill to push through.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
More UK nonsense: Government blocks proposal for pardoning gay men
3
1K
hydrophilic attack replied
  • Locked
Pardon scuppered for those convicted of sexual offences that are no longer illegal
26
4K
Maztorre replied
  • Locked
Rochdale (UK) sex grooming gang citizenship appeal fails
2 3 4 5
206
16K
More Fun To Compute replied
U.S. opposes UN resolution against death penalty for same-sex relations
2 3
135
16K
cryptosporidium replied
  • Locked
Some Helpful Literature For These Trying Times
1
2K
riskVSreward replied
Top Bottom