Hacker News Reader

Comment by tome | Hacker News Reader

Shouldn't all people punished under criminalization of homosexuality be retrospectively pardoned?

This is possibly why Turing isn't pardoned - it'll open the doors for all the (living) homosexuals who were convicted to make compensation claims.

And they should be able to do exactly that.

And the fact that haven't means it isn't about justice after all.

Listening to the video, I believe one of the lords mentioned they had done just that - pardon all the people convicted by that law who were still alive today. I'll try to find a news reference.

The question, now, is whether to posthumously pardon the others.

Update: Found an article. Turns out they haven't been pardoned, but their convictions are now "disregarded" and no longer appear on their criminal record[1].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/historic-convictions-for-...

Thank you! I wasn't aware of this.

It would be good if they went further and pardoned people.

Especially if the House of Lords is deciding the issue!

The idea is that by not changing bad decisions made in the past, those mistakes aren't forgotten or brushed under the rug.

Is it really credible that giving a pardon to all those persecuted under homosexuality laws would make us forget our shameful past? That does not seem credible to me, that just seems like a haphazard excuse.

If anything I would have thought it does that opposite, as anyone who hears about the pardon is just reminded of the terrible things that happened.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com