Benedict Cumberbatch Signs Open Letter Calling For The Pardon Of 49,000 Gay Men Convicted Of Gross Indecency

The Imitation Game star Benedict Cumberbatch has signed an open letter to the British government calling for thousands of gay men convicted of gross indecency to be granted the same pardon as codebreaker Alan Turing.

Turing was granted a posthumous pardon by the Queen in 2013 after being convicted of gross indecency in 1952 for having a relationship with 19 year old Arnold Murray.

He was one of 49,000 men in Britain convicted of indecency under laws banning gay sex. The mathematician subsequently committed suicide in 1954, he had been rendered impotent after undergoing court order hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido.

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“Turing was one of the greatest heroes of the 20th century, a man whose work on the machines that deciphered the Enigma codes helped win World War II and who was pivotal in the development of modern computers,” the letter continues.

Other signatories to the letter include British actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry, civil rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, The Imitation Game’s director, Morten Tyldum, and Turing’s niece Rachel Barnes.