Britain Apologises To Alan Turing

There are some tragedies which are just too appalling to even think about. One of those is that of Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician who cracked the Germans' engima code in World War II, helping to change the course of the war. In 'gratitude', he was arrested in 1952 for gross indecency (read 'being gay') and then chemically castrated. Two years later he committed suicide. Thankfully most of society has left that kind of bigotry behind, but it is important to recognise that a grave injustice was done, and apologise for it, if only to prevent such prejudice from ever rearing its ugly head again.

This is why it is so important that Gordon Brown issued an official apology to Alan Turing, and to the thousands of LGBT men and women who suffered at the hands of Britain Victorian laws. Bravo. And about time too.