Unveiling the Empowering Gay History of Alan Turing and King's College, Cambridge

Historians have long grappled with understanding why Alan Turing, the renowned mathematician and wartime codebreaker who played a crucial role at Bletchley Park, openly disclosed his illegal homosexual relationship to the police while reporting a burglary in 1952. This admission led to his prosecution for "gross indecency," halting his groundbreaking computing and artificial intelligence work for GCHQ and forcing him into chemical castration, which rendered him impotent. Tragically, Turing died by suicide two years later.

Now, new research from University of Cambridge scholar Simon Goldhill has uncovered significant factors behind Turing's choice to disclose his homosexuality. King's College, Cambridge, where Turing studied and later lectured, harbored a vibrant, confident community of gay intellectuals and academics during a period when homosexuality was still criminalized. According to Goldhill, this environment starkly contrasted with the commonly bleak narratives of repression and secrecy typically associated with gay life during that era.

there was nothing shameful or inappropriate in openly acknowledging being a gay intellectual.

Goldhill asserts that Turing gained significant strength and clarity about his sexual identity at King's. Having developed this confidence early on, Turing felt no shame or inclination to hide his sexuality in 1952, believing it was important to express openly who he was and to hold society accountable for dealing fairly with him as a gay man.

King's College counts many prominent gay alumni, including author EM Forster, poet Rupert Brooke, and economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes, famously meticulous, recorded his sexual encounters extensively, reflecting a broader openness within this community. This explicit and frank culture was noted even by contemporaries such as Virginia Woolf, who observed how openly homosexuality was acknowledged among them.

Goldhill suggests that the welcoming gay environment at King's dates back to a 15th-century statute mandating that King's exclusively accept students from Eton College. This created tight-knit bonds among students, fostering tolerance of differences within the trusted confines of the college walls. Even after the exclusivity to Etonians ended in the 1860s, other schools' educators often guided promising and possibly gay students specifically towards King's, knowing they would find a supportive environment.

The college maintains this reputation today, continuing as a center of LGBTQ+ life in Cambridge. Students like King's LGBTQ+ officer Ainoa Cernohorsky report broad acceptance and support at all levels of college life, reflecting the enduring legacy of Turing and his fellow alumni. Visible tributes, including a prominent statue of Turing and artwork featuring Keynes and Forster, honor and affirm their legacy, emphasizing King's long history of diversity, tolerance, and openness.