Thousands of gay men to be pardoned

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37711518

Thousands of gay men to be pardoned

Gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales are to receive posthumous pardons, the government has announced.

Thousands of living men convicted over consensual same-sex relationships will also be eligible for the pardon.

Lib Dem peer Lord Sharkey, who proposed the amendment to the Policing and Crimes Bill, said it was "momentous".

It follows the pardoning of World War Two code-breaker Alan Turing for gross indecency in 2013.

Under the amendment - dubbed "Turing law" - deceased people who were convicted of sexual acts that are no longer deemed criminal will receive an automatic pardon.

Lord Sharkey said he understood why some people may not want a pardon, or may "feel that it's wrong".

I'm sorry but this is absurd. Identity politics is so shallow and all about going out of your way to play Mr Nice.

Firstly whether you agree or not with the law that was the law at the time and these men broke it and are therefore guilty of it whether you think the then-law to be ridiculous. Secondly, and even worse: why are people who are dead being pardoned of laws they were actually guilty of breaking?

Why stop here? I say - demand - pardons and compensation for those convicted of Witchcraft in the 15th century to please the Witches, Wizards, Warlocks and Sorcerers Community (otherwise known as WWWS+)!

thoughts.

[FlyingJesus]

When I saw the thread title the first thing I thought of was an enormous gathering of gays farting

[buttons]

do u think the same way about interracial couples, women voting etc, those used to be illegal?

consensual same-sex relationships..... illegal..... bit of a paradox? should be pardoned if it was consensual lol

[xxMATTGxx]

Good old Alan Turning, what a man he was.

[dbgtz]

Not really bothered by this either way. Seems too late to make any actual difference.

do u think the same way about interracial couples, women voting etc, those used to be illegal?

consensual same-sex relationships..... illegal..... bit of a paradox? should be pardoned if it was consensual lol

Lots of consensual things are illegal though

[-:Undertaker:-]

do u think the same way about interracial couples, women voting etc, those used to be illegal?

consensual same-sex relationships..... illegal..... bit of a paradox? should be pardoned if it was consensual lol

yes. i can't give dead women votes

[FlyingJesus]

Thousands of living men convicted over consensual same-sex relationships will also be eligible for the pardon.

Easier to just do a blanket pardon for everyone living or dead than to track everyone down individually who's still around and wants it

[AgnesIO]

One guy who is getting a pardon earlier raised a fair argument. He said he doesn't want a pardon, he just wants an apology.

Probably makes more sense to do that; ie "We apologise to all those convicted of gross indecency, in modern times blah blah blah". Dan is right, they did technically break the law at the time.

[FlyingJesus]

A pardon is an apology though, that bloke was saying that accepting a pardon means accepting you were wrong but it really doesn't so not sure what he was on about, just wanted to be angry I think

[-:Undertaker:-]

to me an apology isn't even needed. they did break the law.

the true apology/recognition comes from the fact we repealed the law. that's truly what matters