Alan Turing Gets an Apology (Long After the Fact)

The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has officially apologized for the inhumanities perpetrated upon Alan Turing by the British government.

The cynical side of me notes that this doesn't change the fact that the UK government drove to suicide one of the most brilliant minds of his generation (not that it's okay to drive less brilliant people to suicide), who was arguably one of the most influential on the outcome of WWII. Turing is still unjustly dead, and the ones who who forced him to be chemically castrated (because he happened to be homosexual) didn't have to answer for their crimes. This apology also comes about 50 years after the fact.

The slightly more optimistic side of me notes that although it's too late for Turing, it's not too late for everyone else. Once you've publicly stated that something was appalling, it's harder to do it again. Of course, that doesn't mean that the UK and everyone in it is going to suddenly stop all their bigotry. It is a step though.