The campaigners have invited UK citizens to sign an e-petition that calls on the British Government to "apologize to Alan Turing for his treatment and recognize that his work created much of the world we live in and saved us from Nazi Germany. And an apology would recognize the tragic consequences of prejudice that ended this man's life and career."
Irrespective of the futility of apologising to Turing (dead for over 50 years), if the Government is going to apologise and even offer pardons that acknowledgement of wrong should be directed at all gay men condemned under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act, rather than those such as Turing and Oscar Wilde who were 'gay & great' and therefore retrospectively respectable or 'deserving'.
Hannah Arendt noted that in decrying the Holocaust we should be concerned with what happened to the corner-shop owner, the beggar with a grubby collar or the annoying taxi driver rather than just notables such as Viktor Ullmann, Feliks Nussbaum, Pavel Haas, Kurt Geron, Maurice Halbwachs, Jakob van Hoddis and Erich Salomon. The criteria for 'saying sorry' shouldn't be whether the person is footnote-fodder, especially footnote-fodder that is safely dead.
One reader of this blog asked should we be saying sorry to witches, the descendants of slaves or people colonised by the Romans. Perspectives are offered in John Torpey's incisive Making Whole What Has Been Smashed: On Reparation Politics (Harvard University Press, 2006), Melissa Nobles' The Politics of Official Apologies (Cambridge University Press, 2008), Danielle Celermajer's The Sins Of The Nation And The Ritual Of Apologies (Cambridge University Press, 2009), Elazar Barkan's The Guilt of Nations: Restitution & Negotiating Historical Injustices (Norton, 2000) and Nick Smith's I Was Wrong: The Meanings of Apologies (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
* Update
In September 2009, amid yet more bad news for his government, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said sorry.
The Prime Minister has released a statement on the Second World War code-breaker, Alan Turing, recognising the "appalling" way he was treated for being gay. ...Proud to say sorry.
Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction.
I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue ...
So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better.
* Update 2013
Turing - in contrast to his peers - was pardoned in 2013.
