Turing (also a character in one of my favorite books) was the inventor of computer science and played a crucial role in breaking the Nazi Enigma codes during WWII. A genius and a war hero. England repaid Turing by prosecuting him for homosexuality, subjecting him to "chemical castration", and driving him to suicide.
As awful as this may seem, here in America, in these the Aughts, the 21st fucking century, there are still plenty of folks who would not hesitate to advocate for subjecting gays to this kind of treatment if they thought they could get away with it. And even Obama -- Hero and Saint of the Left -- continues, to this very day, to kick homosexuals out of this country's armed forces, and apparently will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Anyway. Gordon Brown:
It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe's history and not Europe's present. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work, I am very proud to say: we're sorry. You deserved so much better.
