‘Alan Turing Law’ pardons gay men convicted under newly abolished anti-homosexual laws

Thousands of gay and bisexual men will receive a statutory pardon for previous warning or convictions of ‘gross indecency’ because of an amendment to the Policing and Criminal Bill. This development follows a commitment made by our government in 2013 when they pardoned Alan Turing, Manchester based mathematician who broke the enigma code.  

Alan Turing aged 16

Alan Turing was instrumental in the success at Bletchley Park during World War 2. A brilliant mathematician whose contributions to Maths and the Second World War have has a significant impact, not just us here at Manchester but globally. Winston Churchill claimed that Turing’s work was “the single biggest contribution to the allied victory”. Turing, convicted of ‘gross indecency’ in 1952, was chemically castrated by the state in 1954 and committed suicide the same year.  

Memorial statue plaque in Sackville Park

Turing’s pardon is largely due to the work of Lord Sharkey who passed a Private Member’s Bill in 2013, granting Alan Turing a ‘posthumous pardon’ nearly 60 years after his death. He marked the day as “a momentous day for thousands of families up and down the UK”. His pardon sparked a huge amount of support for further petitions hoping to pardon those persecuted and prosecuted under anti homosexual laws.

From October 2012 those prosecuted of sexual offences could apply to be cleared through a ‘disregard process’. This removed any mention of an offence from criminal record checks. However a Statutory Pardon will be granted to the 15,000 of the 65,000 convicted men who are still alive and have been through the ‘disregard process’. A pardon means that the person is absolved and forgiven for their conviction, as if it didn’t happen. Lord Sharkey said “a pardon is probably the best way of acknowledging the real harm done by the unjust and cruel homophobic laws, which thankfully we’ve now repealed. And I do hope that a lot of people will feel exactly the same way”.

Brighton Pride 2016

Whilst this pardon is to some people a great step forward, others feel that it’s still insufficient. George Montague, in an interview with the BBC last night, said “To accept a pardon means you accept that you were guilty. I was not guilty of anything. I was only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time”. Unless expressly stated, a pardon does not imply innocence or that the conviction was wrongful. Montague was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ in 1974.

During the interview George Montague said “I think it was wrong to give Alan Turing – one of the heroes of my life – a pardon. What was he guilty of? He was guilty of the same as what they called me guilty of – being born only able to fall in love with another man.” His argument against accepting a pardon is that it implies that his conviction was legal and that he was guilty of a crime, Montague will not do this because there “never should have been an offence of gross indecency.” He added that “If I get an apology, I will not need a pardon.”