A few months ago, I released an episode about Alan Turing. He is considered the father of modern computing and helped to break German codes during WW2 (with some historians crediting him with shortening the war by around 2 years). He was also chemically castrated by the UK government after being convicted of indecent behaviour with another man.
In other words, he was punished for being gay.
Today, being gay in the UK is obviously not illegal. More than that, it is a protected characteristic in the UK and gay marriage has been legal for quite a few years.
So, in the 1950s, the ideas of being gay was so horrendous that the police would arrest men and doctors would inject people with hormones to supress their feelings. Half a century later, attitudes have completely changed.
Why? What changed?
Homosexuality isn’t the only example. Alcohol was illegal in the USA between 1920 and 1933… today that would be unthinkable. In the 17th and 18th century a lot of people supported slavery… today that would be unthinkable. Cannabis was illegal across most of the world for basically all of the 20th century… now many US states and countries have legalised and decriminalised cannabis use.
How do ideas move from being unthinkable or radical… to being widely accepted? One explanation is known as the “Overton Window”.
So, let’s find out more in today’s episode!
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