Government talks out Turing Bill

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Quote:

A bill that would have wiped clean the criminal records of thousands of gay men has fallen at its first parliamentary hurdle. The private member's bill would have pardoned all men living with UK convictions for same-sex offences committed before the law was changed. There were emotional scenes with one MP fighting back tears during his speech. The government, which has its own plans for posthumous pardons, "talked out" the bill, which will not now go ahead. Minister Sam Gyimah spoke for 25 minutes, reaching the time limit allotted for the debate. There were shouts of "shame" and "shameful" from angry MPs as the seconds ticked down and proceedings came to an end.

I've done a quick search through a few news stories about this and I can't really find a convincingly reasonable reason for this. The government says it's because there need to be safeguards against men being accidentally pardoned for sex with a minor or non-consensual sex. But the SNP's John Nicolson, who put forward the bill, said it would "provide a blanket pardon for any gay man convicted of a crime which is no longer a crime. The meaning of that is patently obvious: if the crime for which you were convicted is still a crime, by definition you are not pardoned,” so that doesn't hold much water.

Hopefully some government supporter will come along and explain their thinking in a way that doesn't leave me thinking that it's still principally motivated by residual homophobia.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2dVm2zM