Pentagon agrees to historic legal settlement with LGBTQ+ veterans

[Jessica_Rose]

Pentagon agrees to historic legal settlement with LGBTQ+ veterans

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pentagon-agrees-to-historic-legal-settlement-with-lgbtq-veterans/ar-AA1x3Bjr?ocid=windirect&cvid=6bd469e4a1a74535a033eaafaeca2a29&ei=59

Story by Matthew Mosk (6 Jan 2025)

The Pentagon has reached a historic legal settlement with more than 35,000 gay and lesbian military veterans who were dismissed because of their sexual orientation, and in many cases denied an honorable discharge and the array of services they had earned, CBS News has learned.

Under the terms of the agreement, veterans whose discharge papers reference their sexual orientation as a reason for their separation from the military can now avoid a cumbersome legal process and be re-issued paperwork that eliminates any reference to their sexuality. If they were denied an honorable discharge, they will also be eligible for an immediate upgrade review, the agreement says.

The settlement, which still must receive approval from a federal judge, would resolve the claims from a group of LGBTQ+ veterans who were kicked out of the military years ago because of their sexual orientation. The veterans filed a federal civil rights suit in August 2023 over the Defense Department's failure to grant them honorable discharges or remove biased language specifying their sexuality from their service records following the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" in 2011.