This movement was fueled by a massive Change.org campaign launched during the 2015 Oscar season that was supported by 639,000 signers, as well the cast of the Academy Award-winning film, The Imitation Game, which chronicled the life of Alan Turing -- who died by suicide in 1954 after being convicted under the law. Turing’s family delivered the petition signatures to 10 Downing Street as the campaign gained momentum in early February 2015 (you can check out pics from the delivery here).
The petition also garnered support from men who were convicted under the law. Here are a few of the comments they shared:
Frederick Carson from Barnwood, United Kingdom: “More than twenty years ago I visited a public lavatory for the legitimate purposes it was built for and a very attractive guy about 30yo approached me and asked me in graphic language if I wanted to take part in a sexual act. Because he was so nice, I thought for a moment and said ‘Hmm. Have you got anywhere we can go?’ I would not have done anything with him in the toilet. He replied, ‘you're nicked’ ‘Come with me. I'm arresting you for soliciting or persistently importuning by a man for immoral purposes s.32 SOA 1956 & s4 SOA 1967."”
Eric Gourlay from London, United Kingdom: “In 1952 I was caught in a quiet park with another man and taken to court and put on probation, causing great grief to my family.”
William Bollen from Cardiff, United Kingdom: Born in 1944 I grew up and became a teenager in the 1950s. I realised I was homosexual by about the age of about 14 -15...I have a friend, now quite elderly who was one of those ‘caught’ in the 1950s From a working class background he was one of the few who had managed to get to University and get a good degree. He would have prospered and had a very good future but for the conviction – for next to nothing…”
