The Pentagon agrees to a historical settlement for gay military fired due to their sexual orientation

In a historical, legal settlement involving over 35,000 military veterans, he concluded. These homosexuals had been fired because of their sexual orientation and because of this their papers have been “marked” with their sexual identity and have lost their rights to various benefits. But the Pentagon, with its decision, is trying to restore what has been done against them. CORVERSE Under the terms of the settlement, veterans whose documents refer to their dismissal as their sexual orientation, can now avoid the time-consuming legal process and reissue papers in which there will be no reference to their sexuality. If they were denied the honorary discharge, they would also be eligible for an immediate review of the upgrade, according to CBS news. “When I was fired because of my sexual orientation, I felt my country was telling me that my service was not valuable – that I was ‘less’ because of what I loved,” said Sherrill Farrell, a veteran of the U.S. Navy. CORVERSE “Today, I am once again proud to serve my country defending their veterans and ensuring that our honor is recognized,” he continued. The settlement, which must still receive the approval of a federal judge, will resolve the claims of a LGBTKI+ veteran group expelled from the army years ago due to their sexual orientation. Veterans filed in August 2023 a civil rights lawsuit, due to the Ministry of Defence’s failure to grant them an honorary discharge or remove the report on their sexuality from their service records. The group suit, submitted to the U.S. District Court for the northern district of California, argues that the Pentagon’s failure to correct this “continuous discrimination” is a violation of constitutional rights. It has been over 10 years since the military lifted the long-term ban on openly gay soldiers. Thousands of those who were sacked in the context of earlier political discrimination still carry less than honorary exemptions today, depriving them of the entire range of benefits, such as VA loan schemes, assistance for tuition in college, healthcare and certain jobs. CBS News research has documented the Pentagon’s long-term failure to restore honor to the service registers of thousands of veterans who lacked veterans’ benefits after their military career was discontinued. “This proposed settlement yields justice that had long been delayed to LGBTQ+ veterans who served our country with honor, but were deprived of the dignity and recognition they rightfully gained due to discriminatory dismissal policies,” said Elizabeth Kristen, a senior lawyer of Legal Aid at Work, a group who helped testify the lawsuit. “It marks a crucial step in dealing with this deeply rooted injustice and ensuring that these veterans will receive the recognition and respect it has long denied them”. The Pentagon has issued a series of commitments to correct the injustices caused to LGBTQ+ veterans last year. At the time the civil rights lawsuit was filed, a Pentagon spokesman said the military had made efforts to simplify the upgrading process to a brief request. The ministry said legal representation is no longer required to submit an application for a discharge review and that the discharge review committees “continue trying to finalise 90% of all cases within 10 months, as required by law.” The law firm that took over the lawsuit, described this response as “constitutionally inadequate”, saying it burdened veterans to spend months or years obtaining old files before they could submit applications. “These revisions would then take months or years to be handled,” he claimed. The lawsuit did not request financial compensation, although the settlement allows the court to approve the payment of $350,000 from the Pentagon to cover the plaintiffs’ legal expenses. “This case is not about damages,” said Jocelyn Larkin, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, during her testimony. “This case is simply about changing this paper, because the result of changing this paper is so incredibly consequent on our customers”. While the full range of discrimination against gay and lesbian members of the service remains unknown, Larkin believes that the lawsuit could at least help about 35,000 veterans already identified by a defence ministry request for the Freedom of the Information Act. The real number, however, could be much larger. According to the most recent data available from the Pentagon, only 1,375 veterans have received relief in the form of upgrading the exemption or correction of their registry.