[Update: it eventually struck me that there are implications for all those military folk being cashiered from their service simply because they are gay, many of them linguists in Arabic and Pashtun and other languages directly relevant to the safety of U.S. troops. And President Obama could halt the discharges with an Executive Order, but refuses to do so. — NanuqFC]

For all the computer geeks out there, here’s a story about Alan Turing, originator of the Turing Test for machine intelligence and the first storable software for Manchester University’s Mark 1 (first recognizable modern computer), code-breaker of the Nazi Enigma cipher of World War II, recipient of the Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society — and post-war convict (h/t to Pam’s House Blend, although the diarist there asserts that Apple Computer’s logo is an homage to Turing, who committed suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple, found beside him when his body was discovered. Snopes and common sense say not so.)

His crime? He was gay.

The Guardian also has the story.

Alan Turing was convicted of “gross indecency” after reporting a break-in by a man he’d picked up and taken home weeks earlier. During the investigation, he acknowledged he’d had sex with the man.

He got to choose in 1952 between going to prison and being injected with estrogen for a year to kill his sex drive. He lost his security clearance as a result of his conviction and was denied entry to the U.S. Alan Turing committed suicide two years later at age 41.

And on September 10, 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, responding to an online petition, issued an apology for the way Britain treated Alan Turing and many other LGBT people with prejudice and criminal prosecution.

Way too little, way too late, but a piece of our cultural history that should be shared and appreciated.

And, if you’re curious, check out Turing on Wikipedia.