The petition was specific to Turing, but this part of the full response (http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571) was more general:
"Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction." ________________________________ From: PGage <[email protected]> On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 1:03 AM, Dave Sikula <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sep 11, 1:54 pm, Bob in Jersey <[email protected]> wrote: >> On the 70th anny of the start of World War II, British prime minister >> Brown issued a (rare for him) apology for the govt's mistreatment of >> Alan Turing, one of that secret codebreaking team that deciphered the >> Nazis' intentions, who was convicted after the war for having a gay >> relationship and chose medication with female hormones over prison: > > What in the world was the logic behind that? To make him more desirous > of men? To help him hit home runs? Just Alan being Alan. As the article notes, this was a fairly common "chemical castration" procedure at the time. I read Hodges biography of Turning a couple of years ago (Alan Turing: The Enigma) and I highly recommend it. He as a bit of an odd duck, but one of the most important minds of the 20th century, and his treatment by his government one example of one of the great shames of that century. Classy move by Brown to move on this so quickly once the issue was raised; its not clear to me from this article if the apology also goes out to all others convicted under the anti-homosexual laws of the time. This has some baring on the "Gays in the Military" debate in the US, and Obama's foot dragging on dumping DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell). There were not 5 men in the entire Alliance more important to the victory over the Germans than Alan Turing, and yet 7 years after the war he was almost literally kicked into the garbage - in the middle of the so-called Cold War that many in England and the US thought was every bit as critical as WWII. This apology will have maximum meaning if it helps us today get our priorities in order, and start valuing people for what they contribute, not who they fuc*. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
