The Pentagon (Photo by Touch of Light via Wikimedia Commons)

TARA COPP  |  Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon began a new effort Wednesday, Sept. 20, to contact former service members who may have been forced out of the military and deprived of years of benefits due to policies targeting their sexual orientation, starting with those who served under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Under DADT, which was enacted in 1994 by President Bill Clinton and in effect until 2011, service members who had other than heterosexual orientation could serve — as long as they kept it quiet. That led to years of discrimination, undue pressure, discharges and lost benefits.

Under DADT and previous military policies forbidding gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer personnel from serving, at least 32,837 service members since 1980 were forced out of the military for their sexual orientation, according to Department of Defense data.

More than 2,000 of those service members received general, other than honorable or unknown discharge characterizations “that may have denied them access to veterans benefits, like home loans, health care, GI Bill tuition assistance and even some government jobs,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said.

“We know correcting these records cannot fully restore the dignity taken from LGBTQ+ service members when they were expelled from the military,” Hicks said. “It doesn’t completely heal the unseen wounds that were left, it doesn’t make people whole again, even for those many who received honorable discharges. But this is yet another step we’re taking to make sure we do right by those who served honorably.”

Following the announcement, Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, released a statement praising the Department of Defense’s new initiatives: “The U.S. government has an obligation to correct the wrongs it committed when it dishonorably discharged veterans from the armed services due to their sexual orientation in the days of and before ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’

“For years, I’ve been pushing for the Defense Department to conduct greater outreach to veterans discharged because of their sexual orientation, including through my Restore Honor to Service Members Act, and I’m glad the DOD has announced new outreach campaigns to do just that,” Pocan continued. “These outreach campaigns, along with the DOD’s new proactive review of military records, will help ensure more of our veterans’ records reflect their honorable service to this country and ensure they have access to the benefits they deserve.”

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Dallas Voice Managing Editor Tammye Nash contributed to this report.