this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
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It wasn't just the British system it was just the culture at the time for everywhere. The United States was far further behind the times at that point in time Britain.
Segregation was still a thing in the 1940s to the point at which American soldiers coming to the UK had to have lessons in how not to be racist. Gay rights weren't even on anyone's radar back then.
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway...
I don't mean to say that Britain was some barbaric backwater with this. You are certainly right that this treatment was common in other states, even if not universal. But it was very much a case of Britain doing something that was no longer regarded as essential to the behavior of a civilized state to one of their most brilliant minds, a man who was a hero who saved thousands of British lives at minimum by his efforts. It's a reminder of how brutish we can be by adhering to established norms without consideration of their reasoning.
Speaking as an American, I might suggest that using the social norms of the US of the first half of the 20th century as a yardstick might be setting the bar a bit low.