The Department of Defense announced it will start proactively upgrading the discharge statuses of some veterans kicked out of the military for their sexual orientation and denied benefits for serving – a good step that does not go far enough some advocates say. 

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said the new initiative will start with those who received less-than-honorable discharges under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, a policy in place from the early 1990s to 2011. The proactive review will help address the injustice of the policy, she said.  

“We know correcting these records cannot fully restore the dignity taken from LGBTQ+ service members when they were expelled from the military. It doesn’t completely heal the unseen wounds that were left,” she said, earlier this week.  

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A class action lawsuit filed in August that asked the DOD to start proactively reviewing and upgrading discharge records highlighted some of the harm LGBTQ+ experienced under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the total ban on non-heterosexual service members that preceded it.

A named plaintiff, Navy veteran James Gonzales had demonstrated strong leadership skills as a signalman before he was investigated for his sexual orientation in the late 1980s. When he was found to be gay, he was demoted and given an other-than-honorable discharge status making him ineligible for health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs. He lived with HIV and without health insurance for about 30 years, according to the lawsuit filed by the Impact Fund, a nonprofit that focuses on social justice, and two other groups.

Upgrading a veterans discharge status can restore those benefits. 

Since Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was rescinded 12 years ago, veterans discharged for their orientation have been directed to a lengthy review board process that asks veterans prove discrimination occurred, even though the government has admitted the policy was discriminatory, the lawsuit said.  

For Jocelyn Larkin, executive director of the Impact Fund, the announcement is a good step, but it will only help a portion of those hurt by the military’s policies. 

“We are delighted that they are saying they are going to do this,” she said, noting that at this point it is not legally binding. 

Since 1980, DOD data released to the Impact Fund shows, 35,000 service members were discharged because of their sexual orientation, Larkin told The Gazette. DOD data shows that about 6,400 veterans were discharged while Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was in place with non-honorable statuses, such as under honorable, other than honorable and uncharacterized. 

Only 1,683 veterans have made it through process to change their discharge status, or less than 5% of those impacted since 1980, Larkin said. It’s a process that can be opaque, take years and be overwhelming for those who had a traumatizing experience before they left the military,  Larkin said. 

In some cases, the discharge process may have included a humiliating investigation after suspicions were raised about the service member’s orientation. Some also had their orientation disclosed on their discharge paperwork. 

“Just having this information on their discharge documents gives people a great feeling of shame and deprives them of the strong sense of pride and honor of American who have served,” she said. 

The Impact Fund expects to press on with the lawsuit that asks the DOD to proactively review all discharges processed under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the policies that preceded it and remove references to the veterans’ sexual orientation and upgrade veterans’ discharge statuses to honorable. 

“A real serious historical injustice can be addressed,” Larkin said. 

Hicks encouraged those who believe their discharge status was caused by wrongful laws or policies to apply for a change. Even though the DOD will be proactively reviewing records if the cause of the discharge wasn’t properly recorded, the review could miss some veterans, she said. 

A new outreach campaign to encourage veterans to apply started this week with a website at defense.gov/Spotlights/Dont-Ask-Dont-Tell-Resources/. 

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