Tag Archives: Stephen Fry

Time To Make An Amends – UK Government Urged To Pardon 49,000 Men & Women Persecuted Under Anti-Gay Laws

The UK Government is being urged to pardon 49,000 men and women who were persecuted under Anti-Gay Laws.

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The action comes in response to the film The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and the publics newfound awareness of gay World War II codebreaker Alan Turing who was convicted of “gross indecency” for being gay.

LGBT activists are now calling on the British government to pardon the tens of thousands of other British citizens who were persecuted under draconian anti-gay laws of the past.

In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II pardoned Turing, who committed suicide after being convicted.

Following a screening of The Imitation Game in London, actor Stephen Fry said the pardon was only the start of what should be done to honor Turing.

“Should Alan Turing have been pardoned just because he was a genius, when somewhere between 50 to 70 thousand other men were imprisoned, chemically castrated, had their lives ruined or indeed committed suicide because of the laws under which Turing suffered?

There is a general feeling that perhaps if he should be pardoned, then perhaps so should all of those men, whose names were ruined in their lifetime, but who still have families. It was a nasty, malicious and horrific law and one that allowed so much blackmail and so much misery and so much distress.

Turing stands as a figure symbolic to his own age in the way that Oscar Wilde was, who suffered under a more but similar one.”

Stephen Fry

HRC president Chad Griffin ran an ad in Friday’s New York Times on the campaign to pardon the other 49,000 persecuted gay men and women. There’s also a Change.org petition underway for the campaign HERE.

‘Don’t be a bystander’ this Anti-Bullying Week

Stonewall is working with a number of celebrities, workplaces, and schools, to tackle abusive language this Anti-Bullying Week by supporting the NoBystanders campaign. The campaign has already been backed by celebrities including Stephen Fry, Nicole Scherzinger, Perez Hilton, Sinitta, Clare Balding and David Walliams.

The campaign comes in response to shocking figures from Stonewall’s research in the UK, where more than 75,000 young people will be bullied this year simply for being gay, and 21,000 of these will attempt suicide. Homophobic bullying and abuse can have a devastating impact on young people’s self-esteem, with one in three gay pupils who experience homophobic bullying changing their plans for future education because of it.

The charity has sent Anti-Bullying Week education packs, which contain NoBystanders pledge posters and guidance on how to mark Anti-Bullying Week, to more than 1,000 schools and local authorities in the UK.

700 Stonewall Diversity Champions – who together  employ more than six million people – have also been sent materials to help them tackle abuse in the workplace.

“This Anti-Bullying Week we’re asking individuals and groups to do their bit to tackle abuse and prejudice that still blights too many lives. More than half of gay pupils experience verbal bullying and one in six experience physical abuse. People can show their support for the campaign by tweeting using #nobystanders and by ordering their free pin badge at nobystanders.org.uk.”

James Taylor, Stonewall’s Head of Policy

Come Out and Vote – The Importance of Voting for European Parliament Members

Come Out & Vote 02In two weeks, all of the European Union will be asked to vote for the next European Parliament. To reaffirm the importance of this voting for the LGBTQ community, a video has been created by a number prominent celebrities, politicians and LGBTI activists – such as Stephen Fry, Micheal Cashman, Bjorn Ulveaus (ABBA), and Sir Ian Mckellen (X-Men).

Take a look at Come Out and Vote video and see the importance of voting in May for European Parliament members.