Scotland, Unlike England, Will Pardon Gay, Bi Men

The Scottish government announced this week that men convicted of consensual gay sex when it was illegal will receive a full pardon.

The Scottish "Turing law," named after gay British codebreaker Alan Turing, "will automatically pardon gay and bisexual men convicted of sexual offenses that are no longer criminal," The Guardian reports.

The law is set to apply to both living and dead individuals and should affect thousands -- Scotland criminalized consensual gay sex until 1980 and didn't standardize the age of consent between gay and straight sexual relations until 2001.

Meanwhile, England and Wales recently scuttled a similar "Turing law" after a conservative politician claimed it would pardon certain sexual crimes that remain illegal. The British government is proposing another version that would only pardon dead men convicted of now-overturned crimes.

The differences between England and Scotland -- two separate countries that are part of the British sovereign state -- were highlighted in June when the Scottish people overwhelmingly voted against exiting the European Union (the English voted for "Brexit" in larger numbers, helping assure its passage). The differences over the "Turing law" seem to exacerbate the gap between the two neighbors.