President Joe Biden will pardon thousands of veterans convicted under a military law that banned gay sex, his administration announced Wednesday.
The pardon will apply to service members convicted between 1951 and 2013 under Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which criminalized sodomy and essentially banned gay and lesbian service members from having sex. The pardon will affect about 2,000 people, CNN reported.
“It’s about dignity, decency and ensuring that the culture of our armed forces reflects the values that make us an exceptional nation,” Biden said in a statement.
Those who qualify can apply for a pardon certificate and if approved, they can petition to have their discharge records changed, according to NBC News. Biden administration officials told reporters that the president was “righting a historic wrong.”
The U.S. military has a long and sordid record of discrimination against LGBTQ service members. Both men and women have been prosecuted under military law and dismissed from the military because of their sexual orientation. In 1993, President Bill Clinton implemented the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that banned openly gays from serving in the military, intended as a kind of middle ground that allowed gays to serve as long as they weren’t. open about their sexual orientation. President Barack Obama repealed the policy in 2010 and three years later Congress lifted the ban on gay sex in the military.
Biden will issue a clemency proclamation on Thursday, administration officials said, just hours before he debates Donald Trump for the first time in this election. Among other policy issues, Biden will likely try to distinguish his record on LGBTQ rights from that of his opponent, who has vowed to dismantle protections for transgender people if he is re-elected.
According to a recent Gallup survey, more people now identify as queer than ever before. With the 2024 elections set to be a razor-thin race, LGBTQ voters can play a decisive role, especially in battleground states; a Washington Post analysis found that LGBTQ voters may have been crucial to Biden’s 2020 election victory.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
