Lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgender people have been recorded as members of our communities for at least 10,000 years. From Mesolithic rock art and Neolithic and Bronze Age figurines, all the way down the long and winding timelines of 7 continents to the struggle for equality today. Early on, these people and these acts were to one degree or another accepted. However, in the past 2,000 years or so, hate and violence aimed at these members of our communities have been the rule of law.
On December 23, 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted a mercy pardon to Alan Turing… posthumously, of course. Turing was convicted of “gross indecency” in 1952 for having sex with a man; in other words, he was convicted of being a homosexual. He was chemically castrated and committed suicide in 1954. Prior to being dragged before the angry and fearful eyes of the public, Alan Turing was crucial in defeating the Nazi’s, and in designing one of the world’s first computers.
What happened in the 59 years between the time of Turing’s death and the day the Queen posthumously pardoned him? Was something newly discovered about him that would sway a monarch to honor him so? Was a new type of mathematics discovered that found his contributions to society outweighed the fact that he was a homosexual? No, what happened is what sometimes happens when a society becomes more intelligent: they became more accepting of alternative lifestyles, and manners of thinking and an unjust law was overturned.
Just as Abraham Lincoln ended slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 decriminalized homosexuality in the UK. There was quite the absence of bloodshed, uproar, and civil war in the latter act, yet it was no less a significant step forward for humanity. In both instances, governments decided it was wrong to enslave or persecute individuals based on factors that were inherent at birth.
However, no posthumous pardons should be accepted. It is not that I doubt the sincerity or the change in feelings of the Queen; it is simply that it is not her right to pardon Alan Turing. Nor is it the right of any government to posthumously pardon any homosexual, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender person.
To begin with, this pardon will not bring Turing back to life, nor will it be able to posthumously erase the pain and the emotional suffering he endured throughout his life, and particularly the last few years of his life. As the saying goes, if you apologize to the broken plate, does it fix the plate?
More importantly, it is not the Queen nor the government who needs to issue a pardon; it is the family of Alan Turing that needs to pardon the government and society for what was done to him. In fact, it is in the hands of the entire LGBT community. They need to decide if they forgive us for over a thousand years of persecution.
Does society need to be forgiven? What crime has society committed? Many of us can say that we simply obeyed the laws of the time. Surely the generations before us cannot be considered as committing wrongdoings when they were upholding the laws of the time?
In his letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
From the very beginning, when slaves first arrived in North America, there were white settlers who opposed slavery. And through the years until the abolishment of slavery in 1863, people of many colors and creeds spoke out and fought against slavery, and their names and their deeds are recorded in honor in history books.
The LGBT community also has its heroes and martyrs. However, most of these people are on lists with insults recorded next to their names. From the 13th century and on into our so-called modern world, the people of this community have been publicly humiliated, publicly tortured, and publicly executed. And after all of this, perhaps as a lasting testament to our own fear and humiliation, we label them as being grossly indecent, or as pederasts, or pedophiles, or sinful, or unnatural.
Why do we, as a society, direct so much hate and fear and anger and violence at them?
Because we do not approve of love as the LGBT community sees it. Perhaps we heterosexuals feel there is enough of our love in the world that we do not need any variations on it. Besides the point that love is love, and that the LGBT community has always been a part of our communities, I do not feel that heterosexual love is enough. Nor do I feel it has been nothing but a bastion of goodness and warmth in the world. What of our love for them? Our gay brothers and sisters, our fellow humans who are still searching for their identity, all of these people whom we loved just before the moment they shared their true selves with us. Can love end at the moment a mask is removed? Can love end because the mask was removed?
And now look at how we have grown. Marriage equality is marching quickly towards complete legal acceptance in the United States, and perhaps a generation or two down the road and society will no longer be shifting uncomfortably over it. Unjust laws can be repealed, and all citizens can claim equality. But what about pardons and forgiveness?
This is not a question that should be put to governments and society; this is a question for the LGBT community. They committed crimes only in the eyes of unjust governments and against unjust laws, and they were persecuted out of fear. And so it is up to them to decide if we as a society are worthy of their forgiveness.
