Jakarta Globe – AFP, Feb 01, 2015
London. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch was among some 75,000 people to sign a petition Saturday urging a pardon for all gay men convicted of indecency in Britain under historic laws.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays codebreaker Alan Turing in ‘The Imitation Game.’ (AFP Photo/Jason Merritt) |
London. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch was among some 75,000 people to sign a petition Saturday urging a pardon for all gay men convicted of indecency in Britain under historic laws.
Cumberbatch
is Oscar-nominated for his role as gay mathematician Alan Turing, whose
code-cracking skills helped Britain fight Germany in World War II, in the film
“The Imitation Game.”
Turing was
convicted of gross indecency in 1952 and underwent chemical castration before
committing suicide two years later.
Homosexuality
was decriminalized in England in 1967 and Turing was given a royal pardon in
2013.
An open
letter published in the Guardian newspaper urged Prince William and his wife
Catherine to step in to make the case for a blanket pardon for the 49,000 men
who were convicted.
However, a
spokesman for the royal couple said that it was a government issue and they
would not be making any public comment.
”The UK’s
homophobic laws made the lives of generations of gay and bisexual men
intolerable,” the letter said.
”It is up
to young leaders of today including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to
acknowledge this mark on our history and not allow it to stand.
”We call
upon Her Majesty’s government to begin a discussion about the possibility of
pardoning all the men, alive or deceased, who like Alan Turing were convicted.”
Other
famous signatories included British actor and comedian Stephen Fry and the
director of “The Imitation Game,” Morten Tyldum.
Agence France-Presse
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.