OFFICIAL – ALAN TURING PARDONED POSTHUMOUSLY
OFFICIAL – ALAN TURING CONVICTION QUASHED
Updated 2nd January 2014 with an interview with Tony Fenwick, co-chair LGBT History Month
The UK Government has officially announced that with effect from midnight on 24th December 2013, openly-gay codebreaker Alan Turing is granted an official posthumous pardon for his 1952 ‘gross indecency’ conviction. Turing, genius mathematician and the founder of the modern computer technology, was found dead in 1954, in an apparent suicide. In 2009 the Government issued an apology for Alan’s homophobic treatment – chemical castration in order to avoid a prison sentence – but had stopped short of a pardon. LGBT History Month are pleased that at least here in Britain, 2013 will end on a positive note for the LGBT community. Co-chair Tony Fenwick will be speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live from 5am today, to comment on the announcement: http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/on-air