More than 800 military veterans receive honorable discharges from Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” records review

More than 800 veterans who were kicked out of the military for their sexual orientation under a policy that banned gays and lesbians from openly serving, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” will receive honorable discharges, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin announced Tuesday. 

“Under President Biden’s leadership, the Department of Defense has taken extraordinary steps to redress the harms done by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and other policies on these former Service members,” Austin said in a statement.

The news comes a little more than a year after proactively reviewing the records of LGBTQ+ veterans who might be eligible for an honorable discharge but had not yet applied for one. The 800+ veterans receiving this relief will see their discharge papers – known as a DD-214 – automatically change to “honorable” without the burden of having to go through the military’s formal process of applying for a discharge upgrade. 

An honorable discharge status unlocks access to benefits that some of these veterans may have been missing out on for decades, including things like health care, college tuition assistance, VA loan programs and even some jobs. 

A defense official said the department is sending information to veterans receiving the upgrade on how to obtain copies of their new discharge certification. The official also noted that because DD-214’s contain sensitive personal information, the former service members must request the new copies themselves. 

In a separate effort announced in June, President Biden sought to redress some of the harms brought about by the military justice system against those suspected of homosexuality when he issued pardons for former service members convicted under a military law from years past that explicitly criminalized consensual “sodomy.”

Last year, CBS News documented in a yearlong investigation how many LGBTQ+ veterans were still being deprived of an honorable discharge more than a decade after the military repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The investigation also found that the military’s formal process for veterans who wanted to seek a discharge upgrade was confusing, time-consuming and often required the help of an attorney. 

But the Pentagon’s review does not apply to those who served in the decades before the Clinton-era “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy went into effect, when gay and lesbian troops were not just barred from serving openly but from serving at all. The CBS News investigation found that some of those veterans from prior decades are among the most deeply harmed by the military’s long history of discrimination. 

Former Air Force Captain Andrew Espinosa, who CBS News interviewed last February, has spent 30 years fighting what he believes was a conviction fueled by homophobia. 

In May 1993, just a few months before “don’t ask, don’t tell” was implemented but in the middle of a debate raging about whether gay people could serve, Espinosa was accused of placing his hand on the knee of a male airman and kissing him on the cheek.  He was charged with indecent assault, convicted and dishonorably discharged — the military’s most punitive form of separation. After 10 years of service to his country, Espinosa, who has always maintained his innocence, was effectively a felon. 

At the time, the military claimed Espinosa’s case had nothing to do with his sexual orientation — despite a 1993 letter from a military official to his mother acknowledging “homosexuality is a factor in this case.” Years later, following the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the swell of support for LGBTQ+ military members, Espinosa applied for a discharge upgrade through the Air Force. He was denied. 

When asked about Espinosa’s case last year, an Air Force spokesperson told CBS News, “there was insufficient evidence to warrant clemency in this case.”

Espinosa is one of an unknown number of servicemembers who were court martialed by the military for other infractions, even though the driving motivation behind their dismissal may have been their sexual orientation. Those veterans remain without a path to restore their honor. 

The Pentagon will not be continuing its proactive review of cases beyond the approximately 800 veterans included in today’s announcement. Others who want to seek upgrades will have to submit an application. In a statement, a defense official told CBS News, “We encourage all veterans who believe they have suffered an error or injustice to request a correction to their military records.”