‘I had a criminal record for 56 years for being a lesbian – nobody told me’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3v5pwnpnvko

by topotaul

10 comments

  1. No one told her she was a lesbian? 

    That’s appalling 

  2. That’s crazy actually. It was illegal to be gay in the military within most of our lifetimes and a lot of people’s careers. And some people think LGBT pride doesn’t belong in the workplace.

  3. How did she not know she had a criminal conviction? Was she found guilty *in absentia*?

  4. I am surprised tbh.

    I always knew it was illegal to be a homosexual man but I was under the impression the law was gendered and did not affect women.

  5. They shouldn’t have to “apply” to have the conviction overturned, it should be done anyway quietly to avoid attention from the growing crowd of bigots infesting this country.

  6. It’s a good tinder line though

    “I’m a criminally certified lesbian”

    Oh yeah?

    *Clinks glasses*

  7. A terrible injustice. Think of all the punks she could have pulled for being branded criminally sapphic.

  8. That’s hardly surprising you did have somewhat of a reputation for hitting people over the head with a mallet

  9. So sad. She should never have been a criminal for that.

    But in a just world, she’d have received more than a few citations for that haircut.

  10. >In emails seen by the BBC, her application for restorative measures was initially denied because of the conviction, and she was advised to apply for it to be pardoned by the Home Office.

    What I don’t understand is *why* we use this weird system of “apply for a dispensation” rather than direct organisations to simply disregard the convictions as relevant.

    I guess part of it is that I think [becuase I am not] in that position I would not want to apply for or be given a pardon. Seems like pretending it never happened. Which it did. It just should not matter.

    This comes from being in spaces where we *routinely* get people with convictions that they are mostly proud of on background checks and just tick the big “of no concern” button on the risk assessment.

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