By John Mack Freeman
By the decree of Queen Elizabeth II, Alan Turing was pardoned for the crime of homosexuality this week. Turing, known as the father of the modern computer, chose to be chemically castrated rather than serve a prison sentence after he was convicted in 1952. Turing is best known for cracking the German “enigma” code during World War II. As good as it to see an iconic LGBT historical persona pardoned for the crime of living his life, the picture for all historical figures is not so rosy. Via Advocate.com:
Turing was just one of nearly 50,000 men who were sentenced under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act that made homosexuality a crime. Despite its plans to pardon Turing, late last year, the British government announced it would not provide posthumous pardons for the other 49,000 or so men who were sentenced under the law.
Noting the computing scientist and mathematician’s contributions to the war effort, British Prime Minister David Cameron used the occasion of the queen’s pardon to laud Turing as “a remarkable man who played a key role in saving this country in World War II by cracking the German enigma code.”
