Thousands of LGBTQ+ US military veterans who were discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy due to their sexuality could soon have an easier path to accessing more benefits for their service, according to a proposed legal settlement with the Pentagon.
The settlement agreement comes from a legal case filed in August 2023 against the Department of Defense, focusing on veterans whose discharge paperwork referenced their sexual orientation as a basis for their separation from the military. The agreement still needs to be finalized in court, though a news release on Monday from some of the plaintiffs said the veterans involved in the case “have reached a historic settlement agreement” in their lawsuit against the DoD.
The discharge paperwork can keep veterans “from reenlisting in military service and burden them with discharge characterizations below Honorable, disqualifying them from valuable veterans’ benefits,” the settlement paperwork states. More than 30,000 US service members were discharged for their sexual orientation, or perceived orientation, under “don’t ask, don’t tell” and other earlier policies.
More than 18,000 veterans would be eligible for the change, according to the news release.
Under the settlement, veterans with honorable or uncharacterized discharges but who have “discriminatory sexual orientation indicators” in their files can request to have them removed without having to go through a formal Board of Corrections process, the release on the proposed settlement said. The settlement would also expand efforts already undertaken by the Pentagon to proactively review the cases of veterans with other than honorable or general under honorable discharges.
“This new process allows veterans to opt-in to a group review process without having to complete an entire application or wait to receive their military records,” the release said. “This will simplify and expedite the process, offering veterans a clear pathway to remove discriminatory sexual orientation indicators from their discharge papers, update reenlistment codes from RE-4 to RE-1, and seek an upgrade to an Honorable discharge.”
The re-enlistment code RE-1 means a veteran is eligible to re-enlist if they choose; RE-4 means they are not eligible and will require a waiver to join another service. The re-enlistment codes can result in questions about a veteran’s service, and the changes to their paperwork can allow them better access to critical veteran benefits.
The settlement comes a few months after the Pentagon announced more than 800 US veterans were having their discharges upgraded to honorable as part of a Defense Department effort to proactively review the records of those discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
“Just over a year ago, I announced that the Department would, for the first time, begin to proactively review the military records of former Service members discharged during ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ because of their sexual orientation who might have been eligible for upgrades to the characterization of their discharge or changes to their reason for separation but had not yet applied,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time. “After a year of exceptional work, the Military Department Review Boards directed relief in 96.8% of the 851 cases that they proactively reviewed.”
The Pentagon started a proactive outreach campaign in September 2023 to reach veterans who were eligible to update their records.