Current:Home > NewsBiden pardons potentially thousands of ex-service members convicted under now-repealed gay sex ban -GrowthInsight
Biden pardons potentially thousands of ex-service members convicted under now-repealed gay sex ban
Algosensey View
Date:2025-04-06 15:37:27
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pardoned potentially thousands of former U.S. service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex, saying Wednesday that he is “righting an historic wrong” to clear the way for them to regain lost benefits.
Biden’s action grants a pardon to service members who were convicted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s former Article 125, which criminalized sodomy. The law, which has been on the books since 1951, was rewritten in 2013 to prohibit only forcible acts.
Those covered by the pardon will be able to apply to receive proof that their conviction has been erased, petition to have their discharges from the military upgraded and move to recover lost pay and benefits.
“Today, I am righting an historic wrong by using my clemency authority to pardon many former service members who were convicted simply for being themselves,” Biden said in a statement. “We have a sacred obligation to all of our service members –- including our brave LGBTQI+ service members: to properly prepare and equip them when they are sent into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return home. Today we are making progress in that pursuit.”
The president’s use of his pardon powers is occurring during Pride Month and his action comes just days before he is set to hold a high-profile fundraiser with LGBTQ donors in New York on Friday. Biden is trying to rally support within the Democratic-leaning community ahead of the presidential election.
Modern Military, the nation’s largest organization of LGBTQ+ service members and their families, said the decision was “historic step towards justice and equality,” and called on the miliary to approve the pardons quickly.
Biden’s proclamation is “a significant move in recognizing and righting the wrongs inflicted upon LGBTQ+ service members who faced discrimination and unjust convictions under policies such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the organization said in a statement after the pardon announcement. “These brave individuals stood on the front lines of freedom, risking their lives to defend our country, only to be met with injustice at home.”
Administration officials declined to say why Biden did not act on the pardons sooner.
This is the third categorial pardon by Biden — using his clemency powers to cover a broad group of people convicted of particular crimes — after moves in 2022 and 2023 to pardon those convicted federally for possessing marijuana.
The White House estimates that several thousand service members will be covered — the majority convicted before the military instituted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 1993 that eased the way for LGBTQ troops to serve if they didn’t disclose their sexual orientation. That policy was repealed in 2011, when Congress allowed for their open service in the military.
Service members convicted of nonconsensual acts are not covered by Biden’s pardon action. And those convicted under other articles of the military justice code, which may have been used as pretext to punish or force-out LGBTQ troops, would need to request clemency through the normal Department of Justice pardon process.
Biden had previously ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to move to provide benefits to service members who were other than honorably discharged because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status.
veryGood! (7694)
Related
- Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
- Packers' Jonathan Owens didn't know who Simone Biles was when he matched with her on dating app
- Americans beg for help getting family out of Gaza. “I just want to see my mother again,’ a son says
- Nurse wins $50K from Maryland Lottery, bought ticket because she thought it was 'pretty'
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- A Christmas rush to get passports to leave Zimbabwe is fed by economic gloom and a price hike
- A BLM Proposal to Protect Wildlife Corridors Could Restore the West’s ‘Veins and Arteries’
- Hawaii announces first recipients of student loan payment program for health care workers
- Jorge Ramos reveals his final day with 'Noticiero Univision': 'It's been quite a ride'
- Sideshow Gelato combines sweets, magicians and sword swallowers in chef's dream shop
Ranking
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah tells employees to 'work longer hours' in year-end email
- Every year, NORAD tracks Santa on his Christmas travels. Here's how it comes together.
- FDA says watch out for fake Ozempic, a diabetes drug used by many for weight loss
- Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
- Cuban government defends plans to either cut rations or increase prices
- 2 men charged with battery, assault in fan's death following fight at Patriots game
- Dixie Chicks Founding Member Laura Lynch Dead at 65 After Car Crash
Recommendation
Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
FDA warns about Ozempic counterfeits, seizes thousands of fake drugs
Manchester United announces completion of deal to sell up to 25% of club to Jim Ratcliffe
Furnace explosion at Chinese-owned nickel plant in Indonesia kills 13
Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
Massive Ravens-49ers game on Christmas could help solve NFL MVP mystery
Palestinian death toll tops 20,000 in Israel-Hamas war, Gaza officials say
Cummins agrees to pay record $1.67 billion penalty for modified engines that created excess emissions