On the one hand, this is long overdue.
On the other, I’ve always considered pardons to be insulting when they’re being distributed to people on the receiving end of injustice, as accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt.
The US Government was guilty here.
I’ve never really thought about it this way. Good point.
I didn’t read it. Did it clear the way for honorable Discharges?
If so that is good
A good move from Biden.
It’s about time to do this. It should have happened YEARS ago.
But he was waiting until June!
Biden needed some quick good PR so he has his team search out an easy win he could get without actually changing anything about the underlying problem. Pretty representative of his entire presidency.
Or the timing lines up with the California court case that was just recently allowed to move forward for LGBTQ+ veterans to sue the Department of Defense.
Seems more like a reaction to national news than your cynical politician thing.
So he only pardoned them at long last because he didn’t want to deal with them suing?
How is that better?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The pardon, which CNN is first to report on, specifically grants clemency to service members who were convicted under former Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 125 — which criminalized sodomy, including between consenting adults — between 1951 and 2013 when it was rewritten by Congress.
A bad-conduct discharge, for example, given under general court-martial, can make someone ineligible for services including a VA home loan military pension, and education benefits.
The pardon is separate from the Pentagon’s ongoing review of military records for those who were discharged based on their sexual orientation, which one of the officials said did not apply to convictions under the UCMJ.
The Pentagon launched a new outreach campaign last September to reach more veterans who believe they “suffered an error or injustice” to have their military records reviewed.
“For decades, our LGBTQ+ service members were forced to hide or were prevented from serving altogether,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time.
In order to get their records changed under the pardon, individuals will need to complete an online application, which will go to their military service department.
The original article contains 433 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Picking the absolutely lowest hanging fruit, must be an election year.
I know, right? He’s doing something widely supported, which costs taxpayers nothing, and will improve the lives of a maligned minority! How horrible!
…
Jeez, guy, just celebrate a wrong being corrected. Is it political? Duh. Does that make it bad to do? Of course not.
Some people want to feel bad.
It’s actually really nice to see these replies, with so many upvotes, and him with so many downvotes.
I’ve been getting really burned out on these guys crawling up and down any “positive” post. Usually getting voted up pretty highly.
Predictably, the “nothing is ever good enough!” crowd has arrived.
Oh shut up.
