The British Library has announced it will posthumously reinstate gay poet and playwright Oscar Wildes reader pass after revoking it in 1895 due to his homosexuality. Known at the time as the British Museum Reading Room, the venue banned Wilde after he wasfound guilty of gross indecency with men and sentenced to two years of hard labor. Related Oregon just passed a law stopping schools from banning books just because LGBTQ+ people wrote them Out Gov. Tina Kotek (D) is expected to sign the bill into law. The symbolic pass will be presented to Wildes grandson, Merlin Holland, at an event on October 16, Wildes birthday. Asked how Wilde might react to the gesture, Holland told The Guardian, Hed probably say about time too. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Holland, who is also a Wilde scholar, said that his grandfather had already been imprisoned for three weeks when theBritish MuseumReading Room revoked his access. So he wouldnt have known about it, which was probably as well It would have just added to his misery to feel that one of the worlds great libraries had banned him from books just as the law had banned him from daily life. But the restitution of his ticket is a lovely gesture of forgiveness, and Im sure his spirit will be touched.Holland also said, however, that he doesnt think his grandfathers conviction should be pardoned as part of a 2017 UK law allowing posthumous pardons for anyone convicted under former laws that criminalized homosexuality. The law led to pardons for an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 gay and bisexual men, but the names of those men were not released. Oscar didnt think there was anything wrong in same-sex love Im not absolutely certain he has been pardoned If I had to ask for a pardon, I wouldnt, because all it would do is make the British establishment feel better about itself Historys history, and you cant start rewriting it. Laura Walker, lead curator of modern archives and manuscripts, said the reinstatement of the pass is even more important since the British Library owns a massive collection of Wildes manuscripts. We really want to honour Wilde now and acknowledge what happened to him, Walker told The Guardian. Section 11 of the law, which related to the criminalization of homosexuality, was unjust.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.