kgdykes@watbun.UUCP (01/12/86)
I took the liberty of excerpting part of the book:
--------
...they were talking about art and sculpture and it was in this
connection that Alan suddenly amazed Victor by saying that he found the
male form beautiful, and the female unattractive. Victor found himself
a double crusader, and tried to convice Alan that Jesus had indicated
the right course by befriending Mary Magdalene...
...An element of trust now came into his staying in Alan's room,
though Alan remained 'a perfect gentleman'. But Victor did not
reject Alan's friendship. Instead, they continued to agree to disagree
on this subject as they did on religion....
...it was clear that here was part of Alan that *was so*; that part of
his reality was shaped that way. For him, without a God, there was
nothing to appeal to but some inner consistency...
...He had wanted the commonest in nature; he liked ordinary things.
But he found himself to be an ordinary English homosexual athiest
mathematician. It would not be easy.
--------
...1952 saw a change in American immigration policy from
a *legal* definition of homosexuality (the breaking of a law), to a
*medical* definition. The Immigration and Nationality Act of that year
specified that 'Aliens afflicted with psychopathic personality...shall be
excludable from admission into the United States.' In 1967 the Supreme
Court confirmed that 'the legislative history of the Act indicates beyond
a shadow of doubt that the Congress intended the phrase "psychopathic
personality" to include homosexuals.' Strictly speaking, therefore, Alan
Turing entered the prohibited category in 1952 irrespective of the trial;
in practice, of course, the point was that he had been found out...
_____
- Ken Dykes
Software Development Group, U. of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. N2L 3G1 (+1 519) 885 1211
{ihnp4,decvax,allegra}!watmath!watbun!kgdykes