The Pentagon has reached a legal settlement that will make it easier for about 30,000 veterans who were separated from the military because they were LGBTQ+ to update their discharge papers to remove any reference to their sexual orientation, allowing them to receive veterans benefits.
LGBTQ+ veterans who were denied an honorable discharge upon separation will also be eligible for immediate review to renew their discharges.
The settlement, which has yet to be approved by a federal judge, applies to service members who are segregated under the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that was in effect from 1994 to 2011 and similar policies that barred LGBTQ+ people. serving in the military.
Don’t ask, don’t tell, LGBTQ+ service members could not be open about their sexual orientation, but could be administratively separated from the military if their sexual orientation was discovered. The policy got its name from the fact that the military would not “ask” service members about their sexual orientation, and gay and lesbian service members could not “tell”.
U.S. Marines pose before a recruit graduation ceremony at Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Jan. 7, 2011, in Parris Island, South Carolina.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
The settlement stems from a federal civil rights lawsuit, Farrell vs. The Department of Defense, filed in August 2023 by five veterans who said the Pentagon did not grant them honorable discharges or remove language specifying their sexuality from their service records after the 2011 cancellation. “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
A spokeswoman for the legal team representing the five veterans confirmed the proposed settlement to ABC News. The Pentagon referred questions about the deal to the Justice Department. CBS News was the first to report the proposed deal.
“Coming from a family with a long history of military service, I was proud to serve my country in 1985,” said Sherrill Farrell. the army The veteran was the lead plaintiff in the case.
“When I was discharged because of my sexual orientation, I felt like my country was telling me that my service wasn’t valuable – that I was ‘less than’ because of what I loved,” he said. “Today, I am once again proud to have served my country, standing up for veterans like myself and making sure our honor is recognized.”
Prior to the lawsuit, the Department of Defense streamlined procedures for requesting review of their cases in a 10-month process. But the plaintiffs in the suit said that process was “constitutionally unsound” because it placed the burden on individuals to obtain their old employee records, something that could take months or years, delaying access to benefits.
“For the more than 30,000 veterans in the class action, this settlement represents a significant step toward restoring their honor and long-overdue recognition of their service to the nation,” Zak Sawyer, a spokesman for the legal group representing the veterans, told ABC News. . According to the Pentagon, 13,000 service members were separated under the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy, which replaced similar earlier policies, because exact statistics are hard to come by, but the legal team believes there have been at least 30,000 since 1980. until 2011.
“Currently, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for those who discharge with other than Honorable Discharges to access critical benefits, including Department of Veterans Affairs health care, higher education funding, home loan funding, job benefits, and more. Sawyer added.
“To apply for these benefits or subsequent jobs, veterans must also prove military service, which effectively ‘comes out’ of their sexual orientation,” he said. “This proposed solution will alleviate the enormous challenges LGBTQ+ veterans face in seeking corrections to their discharge records and improve the current process, which is complicated, burdensome and often fraught with trauma and stigma.”
The Pentagon says most of the 13,000 service members who separated from the military didn’t ask, don’t say they received an honorable discharge, but about 2,000 received an honorable discharge.
US soldiers line up next to a Boeing 767-300 that has just landed. 200 U.S. soldiers transferring from Nuremberg to the 7th Army Training Command (7th ATC) at Grafenwoehr, March 1, 2022, in Nuremberg, Germany.
Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Picture Alliance via Getty Images
When the policy was repealed in 2011, many of those who received dishonorable discharges were able to appeal their cases and received honorable discharges, but the Pentagon last year proactively conducted a program that reviewed 851 cases of those who did not appeal. , maybe because they didn’t know they could.
When that review was completed in October, the Pentagon said 96.8 percent of veterans received some form of relief in their cases.
“It has been an honor to stand alongside these brave veterans and represent them in their fight for justice,” said Jocelyn Larkin, an attorney with the Impact Fund who represented the plaintiffs.
“This proposed settlement is a historic step forward, providing LGBTQ+ veterans with a critical opportunity to request discharge record reviews,” Larkin said.
“For too long, wrongfully discharged veterans have had to navigate a confusing and cumbersome system to correct their records,” he said. “This settlement provides a much-needed solution, simplifying that process and restoring the dignity these veterans deserve for their service.”
If the judge overseeing the case approves the settlement, the affected veterans could be required to amend their records as early as the summer of 2025.
“As a Marine, I was proud to stand with my fellow service members, embracing the core values of honor, courage and commitment,” said Jules Sohn, a Marine veteran and one of the plaintiffs in the case.
“However, the pain and injustice of being fired due to discriminatory policies such as ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ have persisted for years,” he added. “This settlement represents not only an acknowledgment of these wrongs, but a step towards ensuring that no service member faces such prejudice again.”
