Remains of the Day (07/16)

David Vance: 2019 holiday gift ideas for the muscle enthusiast

Associated Press: Trump puppet decides Eric Garner officer won't face federal charges

Dlisted: Looks like Jeff Bezos isn't holding it against his girlfriend that her stupid gay Republican brother sold the couple's text messages to Trump pal David Pecker

The Daily News: Rock doc "Remember My Name” chronicles David Crosby’s hard-living life and uneasy career with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Gr8er Days: Sex bomb turned Jesus freak Willie Aames turns 59

ICYMI: I added a rather titillating photo of the Wimbledon men's doubles finalists to my weekend tennis post

The New York Times: The B-52’s were ’70s punks molded not from the syringes and leather of New York City, but from the campy detritus you might have found in the thrift stores and garage sales of their home of Athens, Ga.

Greg in Hollywood: Randy Rainbow is being profiled on CNN by hunky anchor John Berman

It's Either Sadness or Euphoria: It isn't too late to find your summer read!

The New Yorker: Martina Navratilova on Megan Rapinoe and the trajectory of gay women in sports

Back2Stonewall: When New York’s WBAI Radio broadcast a talk show in 1962 featuring eight gay men

Instagram: Sexiest guy I've seen in a while

Towleroad: Gay WWII codebreaker Alan Turing to be new face of U.K. £50 note

Baseline: Simona Halep returns to Romania a Wimbledon champion!

NewNowNext: Maryland voucher program drops Christian school for anti-LGBTQ beliefs

Newsweek: Body of Louisiana civil rights activist Sadie Roberts-Joseph found in car trunk

HuffPost: Darren Criss serves up ‘90s nostalgia with Dave Matthews Band cover

Boy Culture: Are you ready for the 225 greatest gay-porn stars?

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Hot Cat of the Day: Talk about larger-than-life cuteness!

Bill to Pardon Men for Gay Sex in U.K. Fails

And I was so looking forward to putting that incident at the Pink Pounder behind me.

A bill named for WWII codebreaker Alan Turing that would have pardoned more than 49,000 gay men convicted under gross indecency laws has failed in UK parliament after the Government’s Justice Minister Sam Gyimah, who had proposed an alternative bill, spoke until the bill was killed.

Details HERE.

Update on Petition to Pardon 'Imitation' Gang

There has been new headway with the petition to pardon the 49,000 gay men inspired by "The Imitation Game."

From a new release:

The British government has responded in an amazing way backing the pardon and committing to push the pardons through Parliament. Two British political leaders are pushing the government to pardon the estimated 49,000 gay men who were prosecuted by the same unjust law that criminalized Alan Turing for being gay. Members of Turing’s family recently delivered the petition to 10 Downing Street. The petition has over 590,000 signatures from supporters.

The Labour party's leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg both spoke out this week saying they would work to overturn and pardon those convicted gay men.

QUOTE FROM MP ED MILIBAND, LEADER OF THE LABOUR PARTY:

“What was right for Alan Turing’s family should be right for other families as well. The next Labour government will extend the right individuals already have to overturn convictions that society now see as grossly unfair to the relatives of those convicted who have passed away.”

QUOTE FROM MP NICK CLEGG, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND LEADER OF THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS PARTY:

“Alan Turing and the thousands of other men should never have been prosecuted. It is utterly wrong that so many people were convicted simply for being who they are. The Liberal Democrats and I will work to make sure those with convictions for consensual homosexual activity between adults are pardoned. It should never have been a crime in the first place.”

I Beg Your Pardon

Some of the biggest names in media and entertainment have joined forces to demand pardons for the some 49,000 men who, like Alan Turing -- whose life is depicted in "The Imitation Game" -- were convicted of consenting same-sex relations under UK anti-gay laws.

From a release:

Matt Breen, editor in chief of The Advocate, started a petition centered around the cause at Change.org, urging the British government to clear those tens of thousands of names as they did posthumously for Turing. Having collected over 140,000 signatures, the call to action has quickly been gaining traction with ardent support coming from all over the globe. Several celebrities, including Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Jessica Alba, Ryan Reynolds and Bryan Cranston have signed on, and some have also taken the cause to social media platforms like Twitter, urging the public to follow suit in the call to action. 

Join the fight for what's right HERE.

Alan Turing, Enigma Code-Breaker and Computer Pioneer, Wins Royal Pardon for 'Homosexuality' Charges

Wow! This has been a long time coming:

 NYT reports:

Nearly 60 years after his death, Alan Turing, the British mathematician regarded as one of the central figures in the development of the computer, received a formal pardon from Queen Elizabeth II on Monday for his conviction in 1952 on charges of homosexuality, at the time a criminal offense in Britain.  

The pardon was announced by the British justice secretary, Chris Grayling, who had made the request to the queen. Mr. Grayling said in a statement that Mr. Turing, whose most remarkable achievement was helping to develop the machines and algorithms that unscrambled the supposedly impenetrable Enigma code used by the Germans in World War II, “deserves to be remembered and recognized for his fantastic contribution to the war effort and his legacy to science.” 

The British prime minister, David Cameron, said in a statement: “His action saved countless lives. He also left a remarkable national legacy through his substantial scientific achievements, often being referred to as the ‘father of modern computing.’ ” 

Mr. Turing committed suicide in 1954, two years after his conviction on charges of gross indecency. He was 41. In a 1936 research paper, Mr. Turing anticipated a computing machine that could perform different tasks by altering its software, rather than its hardware.

A biopic about Turing, "Codebreaker," was released in 1012.

Alan Turing Biopic to Screen in Times Square

There will be a special screening of the Alan Turing biopic "Codebreaker" Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the AMC Empire in Times Square. You may remember that Turing was the British computer science pioneer whose codebreaking helped turn the tide of the second World War, yet he was "rewarded" for his efforts by being prosecuted for being homosexual, and chemically castrated for his punishment. (He committed suicide shortly thereafter at 41.) A recent attempt at a posthumous pardon was denied when the court found that he was "properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offense," although a new attempt is now underway. To get your ticket for the screening, click HERE.  To learn more, click HERE.