Biden pardons thousands of US veterans convicted under law banning gay sex
Biden pardons thousands of US veterans convicted under law banning gay sex
President corrects ‘great injustice’ with clemency for military personnel ‘convicted simply for being themselves’
Joe Biden has moved to correct a “great injustice” by pardoning thousands of US veterans convicted over six decades under a military law that banned gay sex.
The presidential proclamation, which comes during Pride month and an election year, allows LGBTQ+ service members convicted of crimes based solely on their sexual orientation to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits.
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It grants clemency to service members convicted under Uniform Code of Military Justice article 125 – which criminalised sodomy, including between consenting adults – between 1951 and 2013, when it was rewritten by Congress.
That includes victims of the 1950s “lavender scare”, a witch-hunt in which many LGBTQ+ people employed by the federal government were viewed as security risks amid fears their sexual orientation made them vulnerable to blackmail. Thousands were investigated and fired or denied employment.
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Now might be the time to put some protections in place for trans folks serving in the military - those bans are a little more recent and likely to return if someone happens to win office…
I was going to join the Navy to help pay for school, and then one day it was no longer legal 🤡
It would be up to Congress to make something that couldn’t simply be reversed, but I wouldn’t say now is the time for that since the GOP-controlled House almost certainly wouldn’t pass the bill, even if the Senate did. Biden can only issue executive orders that can be reversed on a whim.
I was going to join the Navy to help pay for school, and then one day it was no longer legal 🤡
something similar happened to me when i learned about don't ask don't tell.
i ended up taking student loans and i regret it.
I have tens of thousands in student loans for a job that my state made illegal for trans people to have 2 years after I graduated lol
by january that will have happened to me twice because of executive order 10450 and a new law that congress and biden passed recently.
are you me, but younger?