Originally posted by Surtur
Trump brings up global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality at U.N.
this is a very good thing also. If someone did this decades ago the Great Alan Turing probably would have lived much longer.
Apologies in advance ddm for derailing ur thread a bit.
For those that dont know Alan Turing was the most instrumental figure in cracking the nazi enigma machine in ww2. This was one of if not the most pivotal moments of the war. It is estimated that between 9-14 million lives were saved as a direct result of being able to decipher the enigma massages.
In the 50's in the UK because homosexuality was against the law there still, Alan Turing was arrested and chemically castrated for the crime of being gay. His castration lead to his suicide a short time later.
"Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts; the Labouchere Amendment of 1885 had mandated that "gross indecency" was a criminal offence in the UK. He accepted chemical castration treatment, with DES, as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death as a suicide, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning.
In 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a posthumous pardon in 2013. The Alan Turing law is now an informal term for a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts."
Alan Turing is perhaps the only historical figure that i feel any genuine connection with, as its more than likely that he directly affected my life. Both of my grand parents fought in and survived ww2. if it wasnt for Alan, either one or both probably would not have survived and one or both of my parents along with myself (and probably many of u and your parents) would never have been born.
If something like this was made global back then, one of histories greatest minds might have been saved.