Government ‘committed’ to pardoning gay sex offences
Nearly 50,000 men were convicted under historical gross indecency laws.
The UK government has pledged to bring forward proposals to introduce new legislation which would pardon gay men convicted under historical gross indecency laws.
Ministers say that the legislation will be brought forward “in due course”.
The ‘Alan Turing’ law may see thousands of men previously convicted of such crimes pardoned.
Turing – a World War II codebreaker – was granted a royal pardon in 2013 decades after he was convicted of gross indecency in 1952.
A government spokesman has now said it is “committed” to the proposal.
“This government is committed to introducing posthumous pardons for people with certain historical sexual offence convictions who would be innocent of any crime now,” the spokesman said.
“We will bring forward our proposals in due course.”
The pledge is similar to those made by former UK PM David Cameron, back in 2010.
Mr Cameron told PinkNews readers, that the government would change the law so that any past convictions for consensual homosexual sexual activities – which have since become lawful, -will be “treated as spent, and will not be disclosed on a criminal record check when applying for a job.”
Last year, Mr Cameron promised to go one step further, calling for new legislation to pardon men convicted under the laws who are deceased, as well as those who are alive.
Relatives of Alan Turing have led a high-profile campaign to secure pardons for the 49,000 other men – including Oscar Wilde – convicted under historical indecency laws.
The campaign has also received support from TV presenter Stephen Fry and actor Benedict Cumberbatch – who played Turing in the film The Imitation Game.
The proposal was a commitment in the 2015 Conservative manifesto and has also had backing from the Labour Party.
The Queen granted a rare posthumous pardon in 2013 to Alan Turing, under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in England in 1967.
