4 ms·
If it was wrong to prosecute Alan Turing for being gay, and right to pardon him, then they should pardon every other gay man convicted of homosexual acts.
by rmc 13y ago
If it was wrong to prosecute Alan Turing for being gay, and right to pardon him, then they should pardon every other gay man convicted of homosexual acts.
- dllthomas 13y ago... if the only problem with the acts in question was that they were homosexual.
- jlgreco 13y agoIf they were convicted of both 'homosexual acts' and robbing a bank at the same time, then just pardon them of the 'homosexual acts'. Unrelated crimes are unrelated.
- dllthomas 13y agoThat's conviction for two separate acts, which is a different thing than, say, acts which are homosexual and also forcible or pedophillic or something. Note that I most explicitly don't mean to imply that these attributes are any more common of homosexual behavior than heterosexual, just that they can be attributes of the same act, and may even have been punished under the same statute.
- jlgreco 13y agoSo you are hypothesizing that they neglected to prosecute child molesters of child molestation, and instead prosecuted them merely for 'homosexual acts'? That may be the case, but I find it unlikely. Are there any specific examples? Frankly though, as plainly unfortunate as those situations may be, those people should still be pardoned. When the prosecution fucks up, bad people can be declared not guilty. Same principle here. It is a risk we accept in the system.
- dllthomas 13y agoMy understanding (which could totally be wrong) is that the charge is "gross indecency," not specifically labeled "homosexual acts." If it was the latter, some attention might still be merited but I agree I'd rather err on the side of caution (in terms of meting out punishment improperly).
- rmc 13y agoThen go through all the convictions and look at it at a case-by-case basis. The details on the age of the people involved should be written down. Or is justice too expensive?
- dllthomas 13y agoRevisiting the convictions case-by-case is obviously the correct thing to do. If it's "too expensive", see about raising money for it.