Famed Enigma code-cracker Alan Turing was once convicted by the British government simply because he was gay. In December, 2013, he received a Royal Pardon from Queen Elizabeth II.
This is a much needed dose of justice, but there are at least 15,000 other men still alive today who, like Turing, were also convicted of Gross Indecency for no other reason than their being in a same-sex relationship. What about them?
We the undersigned call on the British Government to take swift action and create a bill to pardon these men, too. Being gay should never have been a crime. Pardoning them won't erase what happened, but it will send a firm message to the rest of the world that criminalizing homosexuality is never acceptable.
Dear Mr Cameron, Mr Clegg, and Mr Grayling,
I am writing to you to firstly thank you for supporting the recent, and now successful, efforts to pardon the late Alan Turing. The Royal Pardon Turing has received is highly significant for many in the gay community who, like myself, have always felt a deep sense of personal sadness that Turing was treated so badly by a government to which he had given so much.
Yet there is still work to be done. As I am sure you are aware, there may be as many as 15,000 men who are still alive today who, like Turing, were convicted for no other reason than their being in a same-sex relationship. In total, estimates suggest there may be as many as 50,000 individuals who were convicted for no other reason than their being gay.
With this petition we hope to urge you to take swift action to pardon all those men as well. Their names may not be as well lit by history, but they felt the burden of that same injustice. We can't erase those wrongs but we can apologise, and the symbolic gesture of pardoning those men can go some way toward doing just that.
Thank you kindly for your attention on this matter.
