Gordon Brown issues a statement apologizing for treatment of Alan Turing

"But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate - by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices - that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present."

Not spontaneous of course; there was a major petition asking for this. But it is nicely written and better than continued silence.

Obama's speech for LGBT Pride Month

This jumped out at me:

And I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that. It's not for me to tell you to be patient, any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half century ago.

Just recently I saw someone pointing out that the "be patient" line is a common tactic used against people of color. Be patient, change is slow, things will even out eventually... Martin Luther King wrote a book called Why We Can't Wait -- fifty years ago. I appreciate and agree with the sentiment that it's just as lame and false when that line is fed to the queer community. It also nicely stomps on the idea that queer rights are "different" from other civil rights.