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Free Alan Turing
British citizens, this is primarily for you, although it is ammunition for the rest of us who must argue with bigots and the ignorant.
Alan Turing was a genius, a patriot, an Olympic-strength marathoner, and a homosexual. Via his cracking of the Enigma machine, he enabled the Allied governments to keep track of what the Germans were doing when the Germans felt that they were perfectly secure. He enabled, directly, the saving of tens of thousands of Allied lives during World War Two. He came up with the Turing test for artificial intelligence and is called the father of the modern computer - for which we all should celebrate him annually if not daily.
And, because he would not be blackmailed by a petty thief and, indeed, could not conceive of why he should be ashamed, Alan Turing was tried by his government, chemically castrated, vilified, and driven to take his own life at the advanced age of 41.
FOR BRITONS ONLY: there is a petition on the official website of Number 10 Downing Street calling for the Prime Minister to issue an official apology for prosecuting him, leading to his death. The URL is
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/
You must be a British citizen or resident to sign the petition. Please enter your name only; signatures containing other text may be removed by the petitions team.
FOR THE REST OF US: Whenever some idiot rails about the uselessness of gay people, and the necessity for us to live in secret and in shame, tell him or her the story of Alan Turing, and ask whether he should have been prevented from contributing to the War effort.
Useful sites:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/18/turing_pardon_campaign/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-turing-enigma-campaigners-demand-pardon-for-mathematics-genius-1773480.html
http://www.365gay.com/blog/davis-lost-stolen-or-gayed/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_turing
Alan Turing was a genius, a patriot, an Olympic-strength marathoner, and a homosexual. Via his cracking of the Enigma machine, he enabled the Allied governments to keep track of what the Germans were doing when the Germans felt that they were perfectly secure. He enabled, directly, the saving of tens of thousands of Allied lives during World War Two. He came up with the Turing test for artificial intelligence and is called the father of the modern computer - for which we all should celebrate him annually if not daily.
And, because he would not be blackmailed by a petty thief and, indeed, could not conceive of why he should be ashamed, Alan Turing was tried by his government, chemically castrated, vilified, and driven to take his own life at the advanced age of 41.
FOR BRITONS ONLY: there is a petition on the official website of Number 10 Downing Street calling for the Prime Minister to issue an official apology for prosecuting him, leading to his death. The URL is
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/
You must be a British citizen or resident to sign the petition. Please enter your name only; signatures containing other text may be removed by the petitions team.
FOR THE REST OF US: Whenever some idiot rails about the uselessness of gay people, and the necessity for us to live in secret and in shame, tell him or her the story of Alan Turing, and ask whether he should have been prevented from contributing to the War effort.
Useful sites:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/18/turing_pardon_campaign/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-turing-enigma-campaigners-demand-pardon-for-mathematics-genius-1773480.html
http://www.365gay.com/blog/davis-lost-stolen-or-gayed/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_turing
no subject
no subject
He got his apology.
Listen
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/09/alan_turing_gordon_brown_gay_a.html
~L