In a move long fought for by LGBTQ+ veterans, the United States military has upgraded the records of service members discharged under the controversial anti-LGBTQ+ “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
On Oct. 15, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the action on Twitter/X with a full statement saying that 851 service members who lost their positions under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would have their status changed to “honorable discharge.”
Austin’s statement reads: “Brave LGBTQ Americans have long volunteered to serve the country that they love. Some of these troops were administratively separated from military service under the now-repealed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.”
Austin wrote, “Under President [Joe] Biden’s leadership, the Department of Defense has taken extraordinary steps to redress the harms done by ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and other policies on these former Service members.”
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was in effect from Feb. 28, 1994 until Sept. 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian or bisexual persons from military service.
This was an actual “relaxation of legal restrictions on service” by gays and lesbians in the armed forces. But the policy prohibited anyone who might “demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts” from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because their presence “would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.” So the restrictions were the same, but the circumstances of addressing LGB service members were quite different.
Throughout its implementation, gay, lesbian and bisexual service members were banned from being open about their sexual orientation. Under the policy, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines could not “ask” about the sexual orientation of personnel and gay, lesbian and bisexual service members could not “tell.” Those who were discovered to be LGB could be summarily dismissed and earn a dishonorable discharge.
More than 13,000 service members were separated from the military under the policy.
The penalties for this were wide-ranging, as LGB veterans have long argued. The losses accrued by veterans receiving discharges in categories other than “honorable” often meant losing the vast array of military benefits, which include educational funds, healthcare, pensions and access to other military compensation.
Biden administration seeks redress
The action by the Biden administration is part of an ongoing effort to address how “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” harmed queer service members, particularly during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as other anti-LGBTQ actions by the military. Engaging in homosexual activity had been grounds for discharge from the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War.
In 1992, Bill Clinton campaigned on the promise to allow all citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation. As president in 1993, Clinton had attempted to end all discrimination against gay and lesbian military personnel. That effort was met with fierce resistance from both the military, which insisted it would cause friction in the ranks, as well as from Congress.
The discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was devised by Clinton’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, and was issued by Clinton in 1993 as a compromise with the military. Clinton later said the compromise was a failure.
In June 2024 — for Pride Month — Biden issued “unconditional pardons” to those service members convicted under the now-repealed Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for consensual sex in “A Proclamation on Granting Pardon for Certain Violations of Article 125 Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
Article 125 had barred sodomy and other “unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex.” Thousands of people had been court-martialed under the law.
Biden’s pardon allowed LGB people who had been discharged under this policy to have their benefits reinstated.
Defense Department review
In the case of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Defense Department announced that it would proactively review old records in September 2023.
“After a year of exceptional work, the Military Department Review Boards directed relief in 96.8% of the 851 cases that they proactively reviewed,” Austin said.
Not all of the 13,500 service members needed to have their records reviewed, however, since some had been honorably discharged, had not served in the military long enough to qualify for certain benefits, or were dishonorably discharged due to other reasons.
“Even though the majority of service members discharged for their sexual orientation during [Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell] were honorably separated, nearly 2,000 were separated with less than fully honorable characterizations,” said Christa A. Specht, director of legal policy at the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
The DOD said Oct. 15 that, “Following the repeal of the policy in 2011, those separated under it could appeal for an upgrade, and many did. After applying to the Military Department Review Boards, 85 percent of those who applied received some form of relief. Others affected by the change likely had no idea such relief was possible, Specht said, and did not apply.”
According to the DOD in 2023, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks initiated the record review, upgrading those discharges. DOD reviewed the records of eligible former service members separated under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and processed them through the services.
That process is now complete, Specht said, and DOD has submitted corrected records and mailed letters advising veterans who were impacted about how they can obtain copies of their new discharge certificates.
Sprecht said that “more than 96 percent of the individuals who were administratively separated under DADT and who served for long enough to receive a merit-based characterization of service now have an honorable characterization of service.” Changes to discharge characterizations may result in additional benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sprecht added, “We’re encouraging anyone who still believes that there is something in their military record that is an error or an injustice — in particular, service members who might have been impacted by records that predate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell who were separated for their sexual orientation — to come forward and request relief through the boards. They have a high chance of success.”
Trump attacks “woke” military
This latest action by Biden’s DOD comes after GOP candidate Donald Trump posted a video on Twitter/X at around 2 a.m. on Oct. 13 in which he declared “WE WILL NOT HAVE A WOKE MILITARY!”
The video is an attack ad against “Comrade Kamala Harris” and targets military veteran, admiral and Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr, Rachel Levine, by showing a clip of her celebrating Pride month. Last month, Levine’s photo had been inserted into a different Trump attack ad against Harris which implied she was a criminal for whom Harris had arranged gender-affirming surgery while Attorney General of California. That ad has since been re-cut to remove the image of Levine.
The Trump ad also uses clips from Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 Vietnam war film, “Full Metal Jacket,” seemingly to exemplify how military personnel should be abused to make them “real men.” That was the opposite of Kubrick’s film’s messaging, which focused in part on the dangers of an abusive drill instructor.
Trump is widely known to have avoided Vietnam service by claiming to have bone spurs, but that diagnosis was likely a quid pro quo by a podiatrist friend of Trump’s father.The ad is yet another anti-LGBTQ+ message from the GOP candidate, who also has made the persistent false claim that schools are performing gender-reassignment surgeries.