LGBTQ veterans sue DOD over lingering discriminatory discharges

A group of LGBTQ veterans who were discharged because of their sexual orientation sued the Defense Department in federal court Tuesday, arguing it violated their constitutional rights when it failed to update them to honorable discharges after it repealed the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy more than a decade ago.

“The U.S. Armed Forces allows that discrimination to live on in the discharge papers carried by LGBTQ+ veterans, denying them privacy, benefits, and pride in their service,” reads the class action lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of five veterans.

Veterans who were discharged under “don’t ask don’t tell” for their actual or perceived sexual orientation often received discharge paperwork that identifies their sexuality as the reason for their discharge, according to Tuesday’s lawsuit. The discharge papers, known as DD214s, also burden veterans “with discharge rankings below honorable” and bar them from reenlisting.

“Discharge paperwork bearing these markers carries the legacy of the anti-LGBTQ+ policies that the military has now disavowed,” the lawsuit says.

While the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy has been inactive for years, the government “has taken no steps to correct this discrimination systematically,” the suit argues. 

Instead, LGBTQ veterans are responsible for individually requesting that their records be modified and must prove that discrimination occurred, despite the fact that the government has already recognized the discriminatory nature of its past policies.

The Department of Defense (DOD) told The Hill it does not comment on pending litigation.

An estimated 14,000 service members were discharged because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation during the almost 18 years the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy was in place.

“Requiring LGBTQ+ veterans to first bear the stigma and discriminatory effects of carrying indicators of sexual orientation on their [discharge paperwork], and then navigate a broken record correction process to seek resolution, violates their constitutional rights to equal protection, informational privacy, property, and due process protected by the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” Tuesday’s lawsuit argues.

DD214s also follow veterans for the remainder of their post-military lives, and veterans are asked to provide the form when accessing Veterans Affairs benefits or applying for a job or a loan.

“Every time they have to show that document, they are essentially outed involuntarily,” Jocelyn Larkin, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, told CBS News.

The plaintiffs are not seeking monetary damages and instead are asking DOD to remove all indicators of sexual orientation from theirs and other LGBTQ veterans’ DD214s. 

“This case is not about damages,” Larkin told CBS. “This case is about simply changing that piece of paper because the effect of changing that piece of paper is so incredibly consequential for our clients.”

—Updated at 3:20 p.m.