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Queen Pardons Gay Codebreaker Alan Turing
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has granted a posthumous royal pardon to computer scientist Alan Turing.
Credit: King's College Library
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II this week granted a royal pardon for internationally acclaimed British codebreaker and computer scientist Alan Turing, who took his own life in 1954 after being convicted two years earlier of having consensual sex with a 19-year-old male.
The pardon came more than a decade after gay activists and straight allies lobbied the British government for a posthumous pardon for Turing, saying his conviction on a charge of "gross indecency" was an injustice even though gay sex was considered a crime at the time under British law.
"Alan Turing was a remarkable man who played a key role in saving this country in World War II by cracking the German Enigma code," The Telegraph newspaper quoted British Prime Minister David Cameron as saying.
From Washington Blade
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