BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / The Imitation Game - The Petition

**Posted by SusiGo** January 31, 2015 9:48 pm

Neferu wrote:
I´m not sure, but looking at the signatures under the letter, I find them very similar. Do you really think the people, who were named, did really signature it on their own?
Not a doubt, that is an important and proper subject, but the letters are all the same in all signatures - and if that really is a fake, that will not be okay.

They are indeed identical. I think they put them there symbolically so that not just the typed names appear. The letter is genuine.

**Posted by Harriet** January 31, 2015 10:20 pm

Schmiezi wrote:
But wondering about one thing: The petition only refers to men. Were there no women prosecuted under anti-homosexual acts?

The laws basically dealt about (assumed) buggery. I did some research about the 18th century situation, once. Buggery between married spouses was more or less the same way illegal and persecuted.
So they come from a time when buggery was seen as the problem, not homosexuality (which was hardly recognised as being existent, if at all). Goes back to Tudor times.

Last edited by Harriet (January 31, 2015 10:46 pm)

**Posted by Harriet** February 6, 2015 1:02 pm

Bump. They are close to 150.000 now.

**Posted by SusiGo** February 6, 2015 1:44 pm

Amazing.

**Posted by tonnaree** February 6, 2015 2:03 pm

*fingers crossed*

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** February 6, 2015 3:48 pm

Awesome!!

**Posted by Harriet** February 21, 2015 8:37 pm

Latest news:

"On Monday morning, members of Alan Turing’s family will present this important petition to British Prime Minister David Cameron in London."

At the very moment, it's 494.712 supporters. Maybe they can make the 500.000 this weekend before the petition will be presented

**Posted by SusiGo** February 21, 2015 9:19 pm

This is amazing. Wonderful news.

**Posted by Harriet** February 21, 2015 11:29 pm

Update: 500.000 are already done, they are close to 501.000 now - and going for the million

**Posted by nakahara** February 21, 2015 11:33 pm

Great!

**Posted by SusiGo** February 21, 2015 11:37 pm

Let us see how many they will have on Monday.

**Posted by SusiGo** February 28, 2015 1:08 pm

Here is an update from The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/27/homosexual-pardon-delayed-whitehall-fears-paedophiles-simon-hughes-alan-turing

**Posted by tonnaree** February 28, 2015 1:23 pm

I hate to be crude but that just pisses me off to the point of inchoherance.

**Posted by Liberty** February 28, 2015 1:43 pm

What about people convicted after 1967?

**Posted by SusiGo** February 28, 2015 5:02 pm

As far as I know the law existed only until 1967.

**Posted by Liberty** February 28, 2015 5:46 pm

It hung around until the sex laws were reformed (2003, I think).

**Posted by Harriet** February 28, 2015 6:39 pm

It's easy to do some research:

Wikipedia (today's version) "The Sexual Offences Act 1967 was accordingly passed and received Royal Assent on 27 July 1967 after an intense late night debate in the House of Commons. It maintained general prohibitions on buggery and indecency between men, but provided for a limited decriminalisation of homosexual acts where three conditions were fulfilled: 1) the act had to be consensual, 2) the act had to take place in private and 3) the act could involve only people that had attained the age of 21. This was a higher age of consent than that for heterosexual acts, which was set at 16. Further, "in private" limited participation in an act to two people. This condition was interpreted strictly by the courts, which took it to exclude acts taking place in a room in a hotel, for example, and in private homes where a third person was present (even if that person was in a different room). These restrictions were overturned in the European Court of Human Rights in 2000."

Interesting detail: The Church of England ahead of the Parliament:

"In October 1957, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, spoke in support of the Wolfenden Report, saying that "There is a sacred realm of privacy... into which the law, generally speaking, must not intrude. This is a principle of the utmost importance for the preservation of human freedom, self-respect, and responsibility." "

Last edited by Harriet (February 28, 2015 6:40 pm)

**Posted by Liberty** February 28, 2015 7:33 pm

The age of consent was lowered in 2001, but I thought gross indecency (the restrictions mentioned in the wikipedia article) continued for a bit longer? Either way, there are still a lot of years of convictions there.

"... between 1967 and 2003, 30,000 gay and bisexual men were convicted for behaviour that would not have been a crime had their partner been a woman"
(Coming out of the dark ages - old article in the Guardian).

Last edited by Liberty (February 28, 2015 7:34 pm)

**Posted by SusiGo** February 28, 2015 7:44 pm

The petition was made in connection with Alan Turing's pardon and supported by his family. This might be the reason why they expressly mentioned those 49,000 men convicted under the very same law as Turing himself.

**Posted by Liberty** February 28, 2015 9:35 pm

Yes, the petition says 2003 (when the gross indecency law was repealed). But the Guardian article seemed to say they were only looking at those convicted before 1967. It's very disappointing, if it's true.

Last edited by Liberty (February 28, 2015 9:40 pm)