Friday 11 September 2009

Gordon Brown apologises for past treatment of gays.

Hot on the heels of my earlier post, The Prime Minister has issued an apology to Alan Turing and countless other gays victimised by the backward laws of the last century.

"Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. 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".

"I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue".
Long overdue, but welcome. Read the full statement here.

2 comments:

Mark said...

So democracy does still work from time to time :)
Shame it had to happen in the first place but nice to know we can still learn from our mistakes.

NobblySan said...

You beat me to it, you bugger!

But I'll sneak in with a bit of blatant self-promotion anyway:-

http://madhatters.me.uk/2009/09/11/alan-turing-an-apology/