Politics

As Gordon Brown issues an apology to Alan Turing, the second world war codebreaker who took his own life 55 years ago after being sentenced to chemical castration for being gay, thousands of visitors are seeing him honoured at an exhibition of gay icons at the National Portrait Gallery.

His classic 1951 photographic portrait by Eliot and Fry is on show at the Gallery's Gay Icons exhibition which runs until 18 October. He was chosen for the exhibition by chairman of the Environment Agency and former culture secretary Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury, one of the ten selectors responsible for the 60 icons on display.

Chris Smith says: "Mathematician, code-breaker, philosopher, inventor of the computer, Alan Turing was one of the most brilliant men of the first half of the twentieth century, but the refusal of post-war society to accept his sexuality - indeed the attempt to force him to renounce it - drove him to commit suicide at the age of forty-one. Without Turing the Enigma codes of the Second World War would not have been broken. Without Turing computer science would have been far longer coming of age. Yet it is to our eternal shame as a nation that - far from honouring him - we drove him to his death. We can and should honour him now."

Read more: Prime Minister Offers Apology Over Turing

In an attention grabbing stunt, the Tories have redesigned their tree logo to appeal to the lesbian and gay community.

However, showing little knowledge and a disregard for it's meaning they have used the wrong rainbow. The interntionally known gay pride flag is made up of six colours, they have used a seven colour variety that is in fact the Flag of Cusco in Peru.

They decided to 'adapt' the blue and green tree to for a conference event in Manchester. The incorrect-rainbow-logo can be seen on the party's website.

This comes on the back of leader David Cameron's pledge to make the party more 'open and inclusive'. Last year he commented, 'I want the Conservative Party to be an open and inclusive party which speaks for everyone in Britain regardless of their race, background or sexuality and I am determined that we will act to ensure that at every level, we are representative of modern Britain.'  

Mr Cameron recently apologised on behalf on the party for the much hated "Section 28" legislation, which banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools in the late 1980s.

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather has demanded that the Home Secretary halt the deportation of a gay Iraqi man living in her constituency, and revise the ruling that it would be safe for him to be returned.  

This week a Human Rights Watch report stated that gay Iraqi men are being tortured and then murdered in what appears to be a co-ordinated campaign involving militia forces. Sarah has worked on behalf of her constituent, whose name has been kept secret to protect his safety, ever since the initial government decision to deport him. The news that anti-gay attacks are on the rise in Iraq makes it even more certain that Sarah’s constituent would face execution if he returned to Iraq. 

Despite this compelling evidence of homophobic persecution, the Home Office has not yet accepted that the man has grounds to remain in the UK.  

Local Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East Sarah Teather said, “In light of this deeply distressing report, Immigration Ministers must show some basic humanity and reverse the decision to deport my constituent. If this deportation goes ahead there is a terrible risk that this man will be killed. How can we possibly claim to be a country that values human rights if we are willing to endanger a life in this way? 

Read more: MP Demands Stop to Gay Iraqi Deportations

Speaking at a Green Party public meeting at the Branksome Arms pub in Bournemouth on Wednesday night (29 July), gay equality campaigner and Green Party human rights spokesperson, Peter Tatchell, highlighted issues discrimination still faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

He told the meeting, "There is still a ban on same-sex civil marriage. Instead of repealing this discrimination, the government has reinforced and extended it. Civil partnerships are for lesbian and gay couples only. Straights are banned. Conversely, marriage remains reserved for heterosexuals, to the exclusion of LGBT people. Two wrongs don't make a right. In addition, gay-supportive churches that want to conduct civil partnerships are prohibited by law from doing so.

"The Greens are the only party that supports an end to the ban on same-sex marriage. We want marriage equality. This means giving lesbian and gay couples the right to marry in a registry office, just like heterosexual couples.

Read more: Tatchell Highlights Continuing Gay Inequality