Thousands sign petition to extend pardon granted to Alan Turing to all innocent people convicted under Gross Indecency laws
A Care2 petition has been launched following the Posthumous pardon granted to Alan Turing – the British mathematician famed for cracking the enigma code in World War Two and later convicted under Gross Indecency laws.
To date, 11,000 people have signed a petition asking the British Government to grant this same pardon to a further 50,000 men, 15,000 estimated to still be alive today, who were convicted using the same laws.
Author of the petition LGBT activist, blogger and novelist Steve Williams says that under the Labouchere Amendment being gay should never have been a crime, and those innocent people who endured sentences under the law like Alan Turng should be granted the same pardon.
Williams said: “Today, the UK is a leading force for gay rights advocacy in the world.”
“The British Government has helped oppose laws like Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill and Russia’s so-called gay propaganda ban. Yet the stain of the UK’s historical persecution remains as a result of these convictions. While the current Government has provided some men the chance to have their Gross Indecency convictions expunged, those men deserve no less than the pardon that Turing received, and that is why this petition is necessary.”
To view the petition CLICK HERE:
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