Men convicted for being gay should be given automatic pardon, says Andy Burnham

Andy Burnham has called for all men convicted for being gay to be issued an automatic legal pardon.

The leadership contender has proposed that men who were prosecuted for being gay under the gross indecency law (which made all sexual acts between men illegal) should be given an automatic pardon, without any applications being made. Currently, the law states that applications must be made to the Home Office for convictions to be overturned.

This comes after two years ago Alan Turing, WWII codebreaker, was given a posthumous pardon. Turing was convicted under homosexuality laws in 1952 and chemically castrated. Many other men who were convicted because of their sexuality have not had their names cleared.

Prior to the election, Ed Miliband said if he became Prime Minister he would look into the application process. Now, Keir Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions and Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras, has conducted a review into the matter. He has said it would be possible to overturn up to 50,000 convictions.

Starmer has explained that automatic pardons are “appropriate” “to mark the grossly unjust basis of the convictions” and “to send a powerful message to the world about the unacceptability of similar anti-gay laws still in existence.”

Burnham has said:

“Alan Turing made a remarkable contribution to our country, but it is not only national heroes that deserve to have their suffering atoned for. Tens of thousands of men were treated appallingly, and every one of these convictions is equally shameful.

“I was one of the first Labour frontbenchers to call for equal marriage, and I believe the next frontier is a law to remove this shadow from our national history. It would send a strong message to millions of LGBT individuals around the world, who still live in fear of persecution, and to the governments and national leaders that refuse to recognise equal rights.”