{"id":3256,"date":"2009-09-11T21:52:01","date_gmt":"2009-09-12T01:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/?p=3256"},"modified":"2009-09-11T21:52:01","modified_gmt":"2009-09-12T01:52:01","slug":"sometimes-it-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2009\/09\/11\/sometimes-it-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes It Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

———- Forwarded message ———-
\nFrom: 10 Downing Street <number10@petitions.pm.gov.uk>
\nDate: 2009\/9\/11
\nSubject: Government response to petition ‘turing’
\nTo: e-petition signatories <number10@petitions.pm.gov.uk><\/p>\n

Thank you for signing this petition. The Prime Minister has written a
\nresponse. Please read below.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister: 2009 has been a year of deep reflection \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a chance for
\nBritain, as a nation, to commemorate the profound debts we owe to those who
\ncame before. A unique combination of anniversaries and events have stirred
\nin us that sense of pride and gratitude which characterise the British
\nexperience. Earlier this year I stood with Presidents Sarkozy and Obama to
\nhonour the service and the sacrifice of the heroes who stormed the beaches
\nof Normandy 65 years ago. And just last week, we marked the 70 years which
\nhave passed since the British government declared its willingness to take
\nup arms against Fascism and declared the outbreak of World War Two. So I am
\nboth pleased and proud that, thanks to a coalition of computer scientists,
\nhistorians and LGBT activists, we have this year a chance to mark and
\ncelebrate another contribution to Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fight against the darkness of
\ndictatorship; that of code-breaker Alan Turing.<\/p>\n

Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on
\nbreaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that,
\nwithout his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could
\nwell have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can
\npoint to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt
\nof gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that
\nhe was treated so inhumanely. In 1952, he was convicted of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgross
\nindecency\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and he
\nwas faced with the miserable choice of this or prison – was chemical
\ncastration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own
\nlife just two years later.<\/p>\n

Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing
\nand recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt
\nwith under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his
\ntreatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance
\nto say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and
\nthe many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted
\nunder homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more
\nlived in fear of conviction.<\/p>\n

I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this
\ngovernment has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT
\ncommunity. This recognition of Alan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s status as one of Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most
\nfamous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long
\noverdue.<\/p>\n

But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to
\nhumankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united,
\ndemocratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once
\nthe theatre of mankind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in
\nliving memory, people could become so consumed by hate \u00e2\u20ac\u201c by
\nanti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201c that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European
\nlandscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls
\nwhich had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is
\nthanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism,
\npeople like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war
\nare part of Europe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history and not Europe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s present.<\/p>\n

So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely
\nthanks to Alan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work I am very proud to say: we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sorry, you deserved
\nso much better.<\/p>\n

Gordon Brown<\/p>\n

If you would like to help preserve Alan Turing’s memory for future
\ngenerations, please donate here: http:\/\/www.bletchleypark.org.uk\/<\/p>\n

Petition information – http:\/\/petitions.number10.gov.uk\/turing\/<\/p>\n

If you would like to opt out of receiving further mail on this or any other
\npetitions you signed, please email optout@petitions.pm.gov.uk<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

———- Forwarded message ———- From: 10 Downing Street <number10@petitions.pm.gov.uk> Date: 2009\/9\/11 Subject: Government response to petition ‘turing’ To: e-petition signatories <number10@petitions.pm.gov.uk> Thank you for signing this petition. The Prime Minister has written a response. Please read below. Prime Minister: 2009 has been a year of deep reflection \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a chance for Britain, as a nation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,3,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","category-politics","category-society","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t