Pentagon upgrades discharges for more than 800 kicked out under 'don't ask, don't tell'

More than 800 service members who were discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell” will now receive honorable discharges, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday.

This came after a year-long review of the status of those discharged under DADT who had not applied for a discharge upgrade and may not have known they could apply, according to a DoD press release.

DADT, in effect from February 28, 1994, until September 20, 2011, meant that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in the military couldn’t be open about their sexual orientation and that their superior officers were not supposed to ask about it. President Bill Clinton, who took office in 1993, had promised to lift the ban on LGB troops but ran into opposition in Congress, so DADT was crafted as a compromise. But LGB service members continued to be discharged under DADT — about 13,500 of them.

Most received an honorable discharge, but about 2,000 were discharged with a status that was less than honorable, which prevented them from accessing certain veterans’ benefits and even made them ineligible for some jobs. After DADT was repealed, they could apply for an upgrade to their discharge status, and “85 percent of those who applied received some form of relief,” according to a DoD press release.

But a year ago, the department began a proactive review of those who hadn’t applied. After looking over 851 cases, the Military Department Review Boards directed relief for 96.8 of them. This means that of the 13,500, more than 96 percent of the individuals who were nearly 13,500 people discharged under DADT “and who served for long enough to receive a merit-based characterization of service now have an honorable characterization of service,” Christa A. Specht, director of legal policy at the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness,” said in the release.

The department is sending letters to the affected veterans with information on how to obtain a copy of their new discharge papers, CBS News reports. Because of confidential information in these papers, those affected must make the request themselves.

Those discharged in the pre-DADT era were not included in the review, and they continue to face barriers because of less than honorable discharges, the network notes. But the DoD continues to encourage “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,” Specht added. “They have a high chance of success.”

In June, President Joe Biden granted pardons to those discharged for their sexual orientation or gender identity under DADT or the earlier ban, some of whom were prosecuted under an anti-sodomy law. However, they still had to apply for a certificate of pardon and an upgrade in their discharge status, and further review will be required in certain cases.

Regarding the latest review, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a statement saying, “America’s greatest national security asset is the brave and qualified patriots who step up to form our all-volunteer force. 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. Under President 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.”

“We will continue to honor the service and the sacrifice of all our troops — including the brave Americans who raised their hands to serve but were turned away because of whom they love,” he added. “We will continue to strive to do right by every American patriot who has honorably served their country.”

The ban on transgender troops was a separate matter from DADT and the previous policy on LGB service members. A military regulation that had stood since the 1970s deemed trans people unfit to serve. The ban was lifted by President Barack Obama in 2016, reinstated by Donald Trump, and lifted again by Biden.