{"id":260073,"date":"2016-10-20T13:46:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T13:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=260073"},"modified":"2016-10-20T13:46:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T13:46:47","slug":"uk-to-pardon-thousands-of-gay-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/uk-to-pardon-thousands-of-gay-men\/","title":{"rendered":"UK to pardon thousands of gay men"},"content":{"rendered":"
Gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales are to receive posthumous pardons, the government has announced.<\/p>\n
Thousands of living men convicted over consensual same-sex relationships will also be eligible for the pardon.<\/p>\n
Lib Dem peer Lord Sharkey, who proposed the amendment to the Policing and Crimes Bill, said it was “momentous”.<\/p>\n
It follows the pardoning of World War Two code-breaker Alan Turing for gross indecency in 2013.<\/p>\n
Under the amendment – dubbed “Turing law” – deceased people who were convicted of sexual acts that are no longer deemed criminal will receive an automatic pardon.<\/p>\n
Anyone living who has been convicted of such offences could already apply through the Home Office to have the offence wiped from their criminal records.<\/p>\n
But now, if the Home Office agrees that the offence is no longer an offence under current law, they will automatically be pardoned.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said it was “hugely important that we pardon people convicted of historical sexual offences who would be innocent of any crime today”.<\/p>\n
Lord Sharkey said he understood why some people may not want a pardon, or may “feel that it’s wrong”.<\/p>\n
But, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, “a pardon is probably the best way of acknowledging the real harm done by the unjust and cruel homophobic laws, which thankfully we’ve now repealed. And I do hope that a lot of people will feel exactly the same way”.<\/p>\n
He said of the 65,000 men convicted under the laws, 15,000 are still alive.<\/p>\n
George Montague was convicted in 1974 of gross indecency with a man. He says he wants an apology – not a pardon.<\/p>\n
“To accept a pardon means you accept that you were guilty. I was not guilty of anything. I was only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he told BBC Newsnight.<\/p>\n
“I think it was wrong to give Alan Turing – one of the heroes of my life – a pardon.<\/p>\n
“What was he guilty of? He was guilty of the same as what they called me guilty of – being born only able to fall in love with another man.”<\/p>\n
He added: “If I get an apology, I will not need a pardon.”<\/p>\n
He added that there “never should have been an offence of gross indecency”.<\/p>\n
“It didn’t apply to heterosexuals. Heterosexuals could do what they liked, in the doorways, in passageways, the back of their car.<\/p>\n
“It only applied to gay men. That’s not right, surely?”<\/p>\n
The Sexual Offences Act decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21 in England and Wales, in 1967.<\/p>\n
The law was not changed in Scotland until 1980, or in Northern Ireland until 1982.<\/p>\n
Announcing the new plan, Mr Gyimah said the government would support Lord Sharkey’s amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill – which would apply to England and Wales, but not Scotland and Northern Ireland as the Justice Department does not cover devolved administrations.<\/p>\n