An indicted hero: honouring Alan Turing as a gay man failed by society | Pride Month 2024
Computer Science Maths Social responsibility 18th June 2024
Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a mathematician, computer scientist and codebreaker whose work at the British Intelligence Service was instrumental in breaking the German Enigma machine and curtailing WWII. Despite the contributions to his country and the mathematics community, Turing was ultimately criminalised for his sexuality, with homosexuality remaining illegal until 1967, 13 years after his death.
Turing’s sexuality remained a secret for most of his life. He met his ‘first love’, Christopher Morcom, at school, but he sadly died at the age of 17. During wartime, Turing was engaged to Joan Clarke, a female friend and codebreaker. He shared his true sexuality with Joan before the engagement was reconsidered and called off.
After the war, Turing had an active dating life. During this time, his home was robbed by the peer of a man he’d shared a relationship with. While reporting the crime to the police, Turing accidentally incriminated himself in what was considered ‘gross indecency’ at the time. Arrested, found guilty, and threatened with prison, Turing instead agreed to take a course of oestrogen for a year. This was prescribed in an attempt to ‘decrease his libido’.
Turing died shortly after this time from cyanide poisoning, with confusion still surrounding the circumstances of his death. His criminal conviction was only posthumously pardoned in 2014, 60 years after he died, due to restrictions of information around the Official Secrets Act.

Alan Turing was based at The University of Manchester after his intelligence work at Bletchley Park, where his namesake is honoured in the ‘Alan Turning’ Mathematics building. His legacy is long-lasting in both the mathematics and LGBTQ+ community, and his memory will live on as the new face of the £50 bank note.
The BBC reported on the achievement, hearing from chief executive of Manchester Pride, Mark Fletcher: ‘Alan Turing represents so much of what we fight for and how far we still have to travel before we are living in a truly inclusive world.’
‘It’s only right his legacy is honoured by those who know and respect his work and brought forward to help educate those who may not be aware of the significant impact he had on society and the way we live today. And, equally as important, how he was treated for simply being himself.’
The ‘father of modern computing’, Alan Turing was honoured in 2023 by Manchester Pride with a short film co-produced by Turing’s nephew, Sir Dermot Turing. The festival also named a stage after Turing in 2021, placed next to his memorial in Sackville Gardens.
Alan Turing: The Pride of Manchester can be watched online, via Manchester Pride.
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