U.S.A.: Defense Department settles lawsuit with gay veterans

The U.S.A. Department of Defense (DOD) has consented to settle a lawsuit brought by LGBTQ+ veterans who were discharged due to policies such as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, which prohibited them from serving.

According to the settlement terms, pending federal judge approval, the DOD will simplify the process for gay, lesbian, and bisexual veterans who received honourable discharges to obtain new paperwork omitting references to their sexual orientation as the reason for discharge, CBS News reported. Additionally, the department will expedite the process for veterans with dishonourable discharges due to their sexuality to have their discharge status reviewed and potentially upgraded to honourable, according to ‘LGBTQ Nation’.

“This proposed settlement offers long-overdue justice to LGBTQ+ veterans who served our nation honorably but were denied dignity and recognition because of discriminatory discharge policies,” stated Elizabeth Kristen, senior staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work, one of the organisations representing the plaintiffs. “It represents a significant move towards rectifying this profound injustice and ensuring these veterans receive the acknowledgment and respect they have been long denied.”

The civil rights lawsuit, filed in August 2023 by five veterans discharged due to their sexual orientation, highlights that four of the plaintiffs received less-than-honourable discharges, which they claim denied them access to “benefits they rightfully earned based on their service” and cut them off from the veteran community, “an important source of social and emotional support.”

The plaintiffs argued that identifying them as homosexual on their discharge forms, which are commonly required for job, housing, and loan applications, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

“Each time they present that document, they are effectively outed involuntarily,” Jocelyn Larkin, a lawyer involved in the case, explained to CBS News at the time.

Although a Pentagon spokesperson informed CBS that the DOD had previously attempted to streamline the discharge upgrade process, the plaintiffs contended that the current process for rectifying a less-than-honourable discharge is “lengthy and burdensome.”

The lawsuit claims that over 35,000 veterans were discharged or separated from the military due to “real or perceived homosexuality, homosexual conduct, sexual perversion, or related reasons” from 1980 to 2011. However, CBS News points out that the actual number could be significantly higher, with recent Pentagon data showing only 1,375 veterans have received upgraded discharge paperwork or military record corrections.

“When I was discharged because of my sexual orientation, I felt that my country deemed my service worthless—that I was ‘less than’ because of whom I loved,” U.S. Navy veteran Sherrill Farrell, a plaintiff in the case, expressed following the proposed settlement. “Today, I am once again proud to have served my country by advocating for veterans like myself and ensuring our honor is acknowledged.”