So, Alan Turing gets a Royal Pardon. What is he being pardoned for? Being gay? Being persecuted by the state for being gay?
There should be no pardon: being gay should never have been a crime. What is needed is the recognition that the crime should never have existed and that everybody who was convicted under it should be considered to have no such ‘stain’ on their character. A pardon implies forgiveness, but if there was no wrong, there is no forgiveness.
That still leaves the persecution by the state, of course. Nothing we do can amend that, but we can continue to to work towards implementing real equality for everyone, so that the need for this retrospective action does not occur again.
an old grey dog 