Campaigners launched a petition calling on the government to pardon Mr Turing, who created the first modern computer at Manchester University but went on to commit suicide after being convicted of homosexuality in 1952. The campaign was supported by an Early Day Motion lodged at Westminster.
But asked in the House of Lords whether a pardon would be considered, justice minister Lord McNally, said Mr Turing was convicted of what, at the time, he would have known to be a criminal offence.
He added: “It is tragic that Alan Turing was convicted of an offence which now seems both cruel and absurd-particularly poignant given his outstanding contribution to the war effort.
"However, the law at the time required a prosecution and, as such, long-standing policy has been to accept that such convictions took place and, rather than trying to alter the historical context and to put right what cannot be put right, ensure instead that we never again return to those times.”
Mr Turing was posthumously granted an unequivocal apology by prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009.
To sign the petition visit: epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/ 23526.
If it attracts more than 100,000 signatures the issue will be eligible to be debated in Parliament.
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Another failed effort from John Leech, the soon to be ousted, Withington MP.
What dead horse will you be taking a stick to next, Johnnie-boy?
He knew at the time what he was doing was illegal, and yes it was a great thing he did for his country during WW2, but if he had been earlier convicted of rape would he be pardoned, I dont think so.
The fact that homosexuallity is now legal makes no difference to the "crime at the time"
he was fully aware of his actions and therefore a pardon is a no.
The Good Old Days eh.
There is one consolation. At least our leaders now appear to have sorted out all the country's problems, and we can sleep easy in our beds.
what a waste of parliament's time!
not only Turing - all people convicted of this so called offence should be granted a full state pardon and apology. in this/these instances the state itself committed the '[hate]crime'.
[ps his apology on behalf of the British people was the only decent thing Gordon Brown did during his miserable premiership]
Shows you what a bigoted place we live in, only for this guy the war would have gone on for more years. or is this the reason why he is not pardoned?
If the MEN are so keen to highlight the achievements of Alan Turing then perhaps they should acknowledge that 'Mr Turing' was actually called 'Dr Turing'!
I can not believe after all his war effort work, that they did not turn a blind eye to it. If they were that intolerent of the said crime then half the House of Lords would be banged up, and the Catholic Church disbanded.
No; no; no; never, it was illegal in 1952 and he broke the law as it then stood at that time. The law is the law as it stands at any particukar point in time, end of argument, OK.
1952 A.D. Homosexuality was a crime...Turing chose to break the law at the time and suffered the consequencies. Look on the bright side. At least it wasn't a Capital offence.
He should be pardoned, he managed to crack the German code, that should be enough for a pardon, he might have won us the war.
Have the members of the house of lords suddendly become replaced by copies of "Nick Griffin"?
Maybe all the members of the house of lords who went to public school want to stay in the closet??
Pardon him!!
I'd be happy to sit next to his statue and eat a posioned apple on the anniversary of his death in protest of the lack of pardon.
No he shouldn't be pardoned. When he was convicted the crime that is legal now was not legal then. He committed a crime, pure and simple.
I also agree that we have come a long way since then but if you pardon him then you have to do the same for everyone else convicted of the same offence.
Just because he helped the country out of the war doesn't mean that he is above the law.
I have never posted before, however comments like 'He chose to break the law' absolutely infuriates me!
Do you 'choose' to be 'straight', hetrosexual, 'normal'?? NO! Nor do we, we go with our heart, if that is wrong, please bring back gas chambers as I will gladly step into one before I agree with anyone of the small minded biggots.
Turning was the father of the Internet, broke codes at Bletchley and probably helped shorten the war.. but he was 'gay' so he deserved eveything he got? Open you minds please
So . . . are the people insisting that Dr Turing's breaking of the law of the time must over-ride his pardon today seriously suggesting that he should have died never having known love? If heterosexual acts for people under the age of, say, forty suddenly became illegal - would YOU be willing to put off any prospect of a loving relationship or marriage and a family? I bet not!
Grown men, fighting the Nazis, working and paying tax here could be imprisoned for having a same-sex partner. What a disgusting set of state-sanctioned priorities.
Of course Alan Turing should have received an official pardon - and so should all those who were forced to live in shame and danger before 1967.
Another example of the government spending time and resources on irrelevant things. The guy is dead just give him a pardon and forget about it.
There are far more pressing matters that need addressing with far more enthusiasm than this! Law enforcement, justice system, economy, eu, anti social behaviour, unemployment?
It seems that this government and past governments just constantly dodge the big problems that our country faces and spend ridiculous amounts of time on silly little technicalities such as this.
Shall we pardon GuyFawkes as well?
In less enlightened times people were hanged for associating with gypsies or being out at night with a blackened face. Are we going to reinvestigate all those matters and issue pardons? It was the way it was in those days, and some day people will look back on us and scoff at how primitive we were. Why has this one crime been singled out for attention?
They pardoned the pirate Blackbeard!!!
In a letter to a friend after his conviction he wrote that people would now think:
"Turing believes machines think,
Turing lies with men,
Therefore machines do not think."
So it seems that Turing maintained a sense of humour about the way he was being treated and the effect it would have on his legacy. If the infamous pirate Blackbeard, amongst other criminals, have received pardons, why not Turing?
More info about Turing on my blog http://universal-machine.blogspot.com