Gay Veterans Kicked Out Of Service In Witch Hunts and ‘Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell’ Eras Get Full Benefits 10-Years After Repeal

LGBTQ Veterans Ceremony
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Tens of thousands of LGBTQ veterans whose military service ended due to discriminatory policies focused on sexual orientation and HIV status now have an easier path to receiving full VA benefits thanks to new guidelines aimed at righting those wrongs.

VA Benefits For All

The Department of Veteran Affairs announced the change in policy Monday to coincide with the ten-year anniversary of the repeal of the most well-known of those exclusionary policies, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The decision will give LGBTQ servicemembers who ended their military service with an other than honorable discharge due to prejudiced policies access to a wide array of VA benefits, including health care, housing aid, pensions, burial benefits and the department’s homeless aid program.

“Although [Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell] was considered a ‘compromise’ from the previous Department of Defense policy dating back to World War II that empowered the military to pursue – or ‘ask’ – service members suspected of engaging in homosexual acts, DADT nevertheless led to the discharge of an estimated…

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