Alan Turing will be recognised this month on the new fifty-pound note, marking an occasion of mixed emotions.
Turing will adorn the polymer note from June 23, his date of birth and during Pride month.
The ground-breaking mathematician spent much of his childhood in East Sussex, with Baston Lodge in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, bearing a blue plaque in his name.
Dr Andrew Barton of the Hastings & Rother Rainbow Alliance (HRRA) said: “Yes it’s all good, but we’ve got a long way to go. Still, there’s lots of people from LGBT communities who are suffering, and it’s often around the traumas they face because of their sexuality, so it’s not a done deal.”
Despite his achievements, Turing was convicted of gross indecency for having a gay relationship and chemically castrated to avoid prison.
Embed from Getty ImagesHe died in 1954 at 41, his death ruled suicide by cyanide poisoning.
Dr Barton added: “For the HRRA, it’s something to be proud of in Pride month that he had a link with Hastings. It’s just a shame he’s not here now to see all of this, and that he had such a terrible time of it for us to get to this point.”
In 2009 then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially apologised on behalf of the British government. The Queen issued a posthumous pardon in 2013.
In the unveiling speech, Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey said: “We celebrate (Turing) for his achievements, and the values he symbolises, for which we can all be very proud.”
Hastings & Rother Rainbow Alliance can be found at www.hrra.org.uk
