Britain has granted posthumous pardons to thousands of gay and bisexual men who were convicted of sexual offenses under laws that have since been abolished, the government said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

The mass pardon, announced in October, became law when it received royal assent.

The policy is known as Turing’s Law after the World War II codebreaker Alan Turing, who was chemically castrated after being convicted of gross indecency in 1952 for having sex with a man.

“This is a truly momentous day,” said Sam Gyimah, a junior justice minister. “We can never undo the hurt caused, but we have apologized and taken action to right these wrongs.”

Lord Sharkey, one of the people who campaigned for the pardons, said some 65,000 men had been convicted under the now-repealed laws, of whom 15,000 were still alive.