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.

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.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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 🤡

    • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      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.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      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.

      • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        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

        • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          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?