ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
Chapter 3: LGBTQ+ issues
39
Pardon all convicted gay men,
not just Alan Turing
“I
t’s great that Alan Turing
was granted a pardon but
what about all the other
victims of homophobic legislation?
An estimated 50,000–100,000 men
were convicted under Britain’s anti-
gay laws during the 20th century.
All these men deserve a pardon,
like the one that was granted to
Alan Turing. His pardon is much
deserved but he should not be
singled out for special treatment.
Unfairly, no such pardon has been
extended to the tens of thousands of
other gay victims – not even to other
high-profile victims such as Lord
Montague and Sir John Gielgud,”
said Peter Tatchell, Director of the
human rights organisation, the
Peter Tatchell Foundation.
Mr Tatchell is one of the signatories
to an Open Letter to the
Government, alongside Stephen
Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch and
Alan Turing’s niece, Rachel Barnes.
The letter seeks to secure a pardon
for every man convicted under
Britain’s now repealed homophobic
legislation. It was published as a full
page advertisement in Saturday’s
Guardian
newspaper.
The Peter Tatchell Foundation is
supporting a petition for a universal
pardon.
“A pardon should be granted to all
men convicted of consenting adult
same-sex relations. This includes
those found guilty of Turing’s
offence of ‘gross indecency’ and
also men found guilty of other
anti-gay laws, such as ‘buggery’,
‘procuring’ and ‘soliciting and
importuning’ homosexual acts.
These bigoted laws were repealed
only in 2003,” noted Mr Tatchell.
“Therewere around49,000 convictions
for so-called ‘gross indecency’ but
many more men were convicted under
other homophobic laws. Up to 100,000
may have been convicted in total. We
don’t know the exact number because
criminal statistics on homosexual
offences are imprecise.
“Shockingly, the criminalisation of
men for same-sex acts continued for
half a century after Turing’s conviction.
“The 1967 Sexual Offences
Act was a very partial, limited
decriminalisation. It applied to
England and Wales only; not being
extended to Scotland until 1980
and to Northern Ireland until 1982.
“After 1967, all the ancient anti-gay
laws remained on the statute books
under the heading: ‘Unnatural
Offences’. They were merely
not enforced in certain narrow
circumstances. But most aspects
of gay male life remained criminal.
In the four years after 1967,
convictions for consensual gay
offences rose by almost 400%.
“In 1989, over 2,000 men were
convicted under the same law as
Alan Turing; which was nearly as
many as in the repressive 1950–55
era when Turing was prosecuted.
“The ‘gross indecency’ law of
1885 prohibited any form of sexual
contact between men, even mere
touching and kissing. It was used to
convict Alan Turing in 1952 and to
jail Oscar Wilde in 1895.
“The offence of ‘gross indecency’
was repealed only in 2003. Likewise,
the criminalisation of ‘buggery’
(anal sex) – enacted in 1533 during
the reign of King Henry VIII – was
repealed only 12 years ago.
“Since the Sexual Offences Act
2003, for the first time in over 500
years, the UK has a criminal code
that does not discriminate on the
grounds of sexual orientation.
“Homophobia isn’t over yet. In
2013, to create a database of
‘serious sex offenders’, police
turned up unannounced on
people’s doorsteps to demand DNA
samples from men who, like Turing,
were convicted of consenting adult
same-sex relationships decades
ago. They were lumped together
with rapists and paedophiles. It
took a campaign, spearheaded by
the Peter Tatchell Foundation and
Galop, to get the police DNA trawl
dropped,” said Mr Tatchell.
2 February 2015
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The above information has been
reprinted with kind permission
from
the
Peter
Tatchell
Foundation. Please visit www.
PeterTatchellFoundation.org for
further information.
© Peter Tatchell Foundation 2016
