The Biden administration has announced pardons for LGBTQ+ veterans who were discharged for violating the long-defunct military ban on same-sex relationships, characterizing the move as setting right a “historical injustice.”
President Joe Biden announced the pardons in a proclamation issued early Wednesday. The action applies specifically to those who were convicted under Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which formerly barred “unnatural carnal copulation” between servicemembers of the same sex. That ban was repealed in 2013, when Congress and then-President Barack Obama struck it from the UCMJ as part of a military appropriations bill.
Biden’s pardon plan applies to anyone convicted under Article 125, so long as their charges were for “consensual, private conduct between individuals 18 and older that do not involve any aggravating factor.” An incident of sexual assault would not be eligible to be pardoned, but neither would a charge involving an officer and an enlisted soldier or two soldiers in the same chain of command, both of which are considered inappropriate “fraternization” under the UCMJ.
Even so, the terms of Biden’s pardons could apply to thousands of former military personnel who were court-martialed under the old “anti-sodomy” statute. Those who believe they are covered under Biden’s proclamation must apply for a certificate of pardon from the military department in which they served. Based on department approval, the certificates will then be issued by the Attorney General’s office. Biden also wrote that he “strongly encourages” anyone who receives a pardon certificate to also apply for their “dishonorable” discharge to be officially upgraded. That change of status will allow those who were discharged to receive veterans’ benefits they have so far been denied, administration officials told CBS.
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