Milary veterans kicked out for beg gay still fightg for honorable discharg - CBS News

Contents:

• MILARY VETERANS KICKED OUT FOR BEG GAY STILL FIGHTG FOR HONORABLE DISCHARG
• VETS KICKED OUT FOR BEG GAY N UPGRA THEIR DISCHARG
• RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• DAV-FUND PROGRAM NNECTS GAY VETERAN WH EE ARY DISCHARGE UPGRA ATTORNEY

MILARY VETERANS KICKED OUT FOR BEG GAY STILL FIGHTG FOR HONORABLE DISCHARG

Ary due to their sexual orientatn, cludg an timated 14, 000 service members who were discharged unr "don't ask, don't tell, " durg the 17 years that was effect, acrdg to the rights activists and gay veterans, cludg former Army Litenant Dan Choi (4th L) and former Mare Corporal Evelyn Thomas (5th L), handcuff themselv to the fence of the Whe Hoe durg a prott Nov.

Members of the Gay Veterans Associatn march past the Whe Hoe and down Pennsylvania Ave onto the Natnal Mall Washgton, D.

"Given that large numbers of LGBTQ+ Veterans who were affected by prev homophobic and transphobic polici have not applied for a discharge upgra due to the perceptn that the procs uld be onero, we are hopeful that this policy statement enurag more of them to ntact VA to terme their eligibily for re and servic, " acrdg to a VA statement. The print directed that an executive orr reversg the ban on homosexuals the ary be prepared by July Edmonds/AP, FILE"Don't ask, don't tell, " was signed to law 1993 unr the admistratn of Print Bill Clton, who ially sought to end a World War II-era ban on homosexuals servg the backlash om some ary lears and members of Congrs, Clton managed to get support for an apparent promise, which would allow LGBTQ dividuals to serve the ary if they did not disclose their sexual his first term office, Print Barack Obama voiced his support for repealg the law.

VETS KICKED OUT FOR BEG GAY N UPGRA THEIR DISCHARG

It is time to allow gay and lbian Amerins to serve their untry openly, " Obama said at the time. Ary agast gay and lbian service members, revealg that more than 29, 000 dividuals kicked out bee of their sexualy were nied honorable have long been timat suggtg about 14, 000 service members were separated om the ary unr "don't ask, don't tell, " the policy that banned gay men and women om servg openly om 1994 to 2011, but the ary has never before shared a tailed breakdown of how many dividuals were nied honorable discharg durg and before "don't ask, don't tell, " when gays and lbians were prohibed om servg at all.

The new data, which the nonprof legal servic anizatn Legal Aid At Work obtaed through a Freedom of Informatn Act requt and shared wh CBS News, vers the three s om 1980 until the feral urts lifted the ban agast gay and lbian soldiers, sailors and airmen 2010.

Acrdg to the data, 35, 801 dividuals "received a discharge or separatn bee of real or perceived homosexualy, homosexual nduct, sexual perversn, or any other related reason om the perd October 1, 1980 to September 20, 2011.

RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN

When CBS News reached out to the Defense Department about the new figur, officials there produced different numbers om s Office of Legal Policy ditg most service members separated on the basis of homosexual nduct om 1970 to 2011 were discharged unr honorable ndns. Ary bee of real or perceived homosexualy, homosexual nduct or other related reasons, om Oct.

While some ary laws directly crimalized homosexual activy, other statut were ed as ver charg to dm gay men and women out of the service, meang the numbers may only reveal a actn of the te toll. Air Force veteran once imprisoned for beg gay still endur the stigma of a felony rerd.

"At VA, we ntuoly work not only to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ Veterans, but also to addrs ongog issu that LGBTQ+ Veterans face as a rult of the ary's s-long official policy of homophobia and transphobia, " Williams wrote. 28, 1994, prevented openly lbian, gay and bisexual service members om servg the ary.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

Before the repeal, openly gay service members who were given an "other than honorable" discharge om the ary were effectively blocked om the many servic and benefs provid to veterans the U. "It ma sense at the time that there was a more prsg need for me as a woman married to a man to say, 'No one my un red if anyone was gay while we were Iraq, ' " she said. The announcement was ma as part of the 10th anniversary of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which barred openly gay, lbian or bisexual dividuals om servg the ary.

“Given that large numbers of LGBTQ+ veterans who were affected by prev homophobic and transphobic polici have not applied for a discharge upgra due to the perceptn that the procs uld be onero, we are hopeful that this policy statement enurag more of them to ntact VA to terme their eligibily for re and servic, ” she said. “Unsirable” behavr—specifilly, an accatn of “attemptg to perpetrate an act of Homosexualy, ” as he explaed a letter to the Natnal Associatn for the Advancement of Colored People, om whom he was seekg legal help. ” A the top rner of the notice explaed the reason for the discharge—“HS, ” for stance, meant the person was nsired a homosexual.

DAV-FUND PROGRAM NNECTS GAY VETERAN WH EE ARY DISCHARGE UPGRA ATTORNEY

” Wh WWII’s massive human mobilizatn, the ary shifted om s practice of jailg soldiers acced of homosexualy (which required time-nsumg, expensive urt-martials) to simply emg them psychologilly unf.

Acrdg to Jon, the NAACP worked wh Black service members acced of homosexualy, like Lemuel Brown, to appeal to the Discharge Review Board for a changed stat—ually wh ltle succs. READ MORE: The Supreme Court Rulgs That Have Shaped Gay Rights Ameri‘Scientific’ Attempts to Intify HomosexualsIn their effort to screen out queer nscripts, ary officials ran to a problem: They didn’t have a nclive way of intifyg them, beyond a set of subjectively terpreted “signs” such as “feme bodily characteristics” and “effemacy drs and manner, ” acrdg to Allan Bébé, thor of Comg Out Unr Fire: Gay Men and Women Durg World War II.

Durg World War II, out of some 18 ln potential enliste, the ary only intified between 4, 000 and 5, 000 homosexuals, a severe unrunt, timat Bébé.