Spy Base GCHQ Takes Stand Against Homophobia

GCHQ will be lit up like a rainbow this week to promote the fight against prejudice towards people based on their sexuality.

The spy agency refused to employ openly gay people until the early 1990s but will mark International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia with the lighting display.

The Cheltenham centre of the country's intelligence agency previously operated as Bletchley Park, where gay codebreaker Alan Turing's efforts helped keep Britain safe during the Second World War.

Mr Turing helped develop a new machine to break German codes on an industrial scale but also had to keep his homosexuality secret from those around him.

In 1952 he was convicted of gross indecency and killed himself two years later.

GCHQ has moved on since then, having a Pride network for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues since 1996.

In 2009, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered an "unequivocal apology" for how Mr Turing had been treated and four years later, the Queen granted the codebreaker a posthumous pardon.

Speaking of the lighting display, GCHQ director Robert Hannigan said he was "proud" of the organisation's "diverse and creative workforce".

He added: "World-leading innovation in technology absolutely requires diversity. That was true for GCHQ when Alan Turing tackled Enigma for us and it is just as true today."

Mr Turing's nephew Sir John Dermot Turing said he was "delighted" by GCHQ's gesture, adding: "My uncle, Alan Turing, made a crucial contribution to the safety of the nation when he worked for GCHQ's forerunner Bletchley Park but due to society's attitude at that time he was forced to hide his sexuality.

"It is important that his successors at GCHQ today are free to be themselves and, therefore, bring their talents to such vital work."