MI6 chief Richard Moore apologises for LGBT ban prior to 1991
MI6 chief Richard Moore apologises after LGBT people were barred from serving in the intelligence agencies until 1991 under ‘wrong, unjust and discriminatory’ ban
- Richard Moore, known as C in Whitehall, apologised in a video posted to Twitter
- He said the ban deprived the Secret Intelligence Service of the ‘best talent’ in UK
- The ban was in place as they thought LGBT+ are ‘more susceptible’ to blackmail
The chief of MI6 has apologised for the agency’s past treatment of LGBT+ people, adding they had deprived themselves of the ‘best talent’ Britain can offer.
Richard Moore from the Secret Intelligence service said a security bar on some individuals, which remained in place until 1991, was ‘wrong, unjust and discriminatory’.
In a video posted on Twitter, Mr Moore, known in Whitehall as C, explained the ban was in place because of a misguided belief LGBT+ people were more susceptible to blackmail.
He said: ‘This was wrong, unjust and discriminatory.
MI6 chief Richard Moore said the ban on LGBT+ people was ‘wrong, unjust and discriminatory’
The ban was introduced under the wrong belief being LGBT+ was ‘incompatible’ with a life in the secret services
‘Committed, talented, public-spirited people had their careers and lives blighted because it was argued that being LGBT+ was incompatible with being an intelligence professional.
‘Because of this policy, other loyal and patriotic people had their dreams of serving their country in MI6 shattered.
‘Today, I apologise on behalf of MI6 for the way our LGBT+ colleagues and fellow citizens were treated and express my regret to those whose lives were affected.
‘Being LGBT+ did not make these people a national security threat – of course not.
‘But the ban did mean that we, in the intelligence and diplomatic services, deprived ourselves of some of the best talent Britain could offer.’
Guy Burgess was found to be a Soviet spy in the 1950s and later defected to the Soviet Union
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Although same-sex relationships were decriminalised in 1967, the ban on LGBT+ people serving in the agencies and the diplomatic service stayed in place following a series of Cold War spy scandals.
Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, from the notorious Cambridge spy ring who defected to the Soviet Union in 1951, were gay while a third, Donald Maclean, may have been bisexual.
In the 1950s hero Second World War codebreaker and mathematician Alan Turing was forced out of GCHQ when he was found to be in a gay relationship before he was chemically castrated.
He later took his own life at the age of 41.
Hero codebreaker Alan Turing was forced out of GCHQ in the 1950s when he was found to be in a gay relationship
In 2013 the Queen granted him a posthumous pardon, only the fourth to be granted under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy since World War Two.
Mr Moore added the effect of the ban has lingered in the agency ever since.
He said: ‘Some staff who chose to come out were treated badly for not having previously disclosed their sexuality during their security vetting.
‘Others who joined in the period post-1991 were made to feel unwelcome. That treatment fuelled a reluctance to be their true selves in the workplace.
‘This was also unacceptable.’
Who was Alan Turing? Pioneering scientist who helped crack Hitler’s enigma machine only to be convicted for homosexuality after WWII
Alan Turing (pictured) was a British mathematician best known for his work cracking the enigma code during the Second World War
Alan Turing was a British mathematician born on June 23, 1912 In Maida Vale, London, to father Julius, a civil servant, and mother Ethel, the daughter of a railway engineer.
His talents were recognised early on at school but he struggled with his teachers when he began boarding at Sherborne School aged 13 because he was too fixated on science.
Turing continued to excel at maths but his time at Sherborne was also rocked by the death of his close friend Christopher Morcom from tuberculosis. Morcom was described as Turing’s ‘first love’ and he remained close with his mother following his death, writing to her on Morcom’s birthday each year.
He then moved on to Cambridge where he studied at King’s College, graduating with a first class degree in mathematics.
During the Second World War, Turing was pivotal in cracking the Enigma codes used by the German military to encrypt their messages.
His work gave Allied leaders vital information about the movement and intentions of Hitler’s forces.
Historians credit the work of Turing and his fellow codebreakers at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire with shortening the war by up to two years, saving countless lives, and he was awarded an OBE in 1946 for his services.
Turing is also widely seen as the father of computer science and artificial intelligence due to his groundbreaking work in mathematics in the 1930s.
He was able to prove a ‘universal computing machine’ would be able to perform equations if they were presented as an algorithm – and had a paper published on the subject in 1936 in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society Journal when he was aged just 23.
But he was disgraced in 1952 when he was convicted for homosexual activity, which was illegal at the time and would not be decriminalised until 1967.
To avoid prison, Turing agreed to ‘chemical castration’ – hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido.
As well as physical and emotional damage, his conviction had led to the removal of his security clearance and meant he was no longer able to work for GCHQ, the successor to the Government Code and Cypher School, based at Bletchley Park.
Turing was awarded an OBE in 1946 for his codebreaking work at Bletchley Park, pictured, which is credited with ending World War II two years early
Then In 1954, aged 41, he died of cyanide poisoning. An inquest recorded a verdict of suicide, although his mother and others maintained that his death was accidental.
When his body was discovered, an apple laid half-eaten next to his bed. It was never tested for cyanide but it is speculated it was the source of the fatal dose.
Some more peculiar theories suggest Turing was ‘obsessed’ with fairytale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and his death was inspired by the poisoned apple in the story.
Following a public outcry over his treatment and conviction, the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a public apology in 2009.
He then received a posthumous Royal pardon in 2014, only the fourth to be issued since the end of the Second World War.
It was requested by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, who described Turing as a national hero who fell foul of the law because of his sexuality.
An e-petition demanding a pardon for Turing had previously received 37,404 signatures.
A 2017 law, that retroactively pardoned all men cautioned or convicted for homosexual acts under historical legislation, was named in his honour.
