Pentagon reaches historic settlement with LGBTQ veterans over discharge status

The Defense Department agreed to a class-action settlement that may affect more than 35,000 LGBTQ veterans who were discharged because of their sexual orientation under “don’t ask, don’t tell” and similar earlier policies. 

The agreement will allow veterans who received a less than honorable discharge because of their sexual orientation to be eligible for an immediate review and an upgrade to an honorable discharge. Veterans who received an honorable discharge but whose military discharge form, known as a DD-214, states that they separated from the military because of sexual orientation will now be able to have that characterization removed from the form in a matter of months.

The settlement could have significant effects for the more than 35,000 veterans that the Defense Department estimates were discharged between 1980 and 2011 “because of real or perceived homosexuality, homosexual conduct, sexual perversion, or any other related reason,” according to court documents. 

Having a less than honorable discharge from the military disqualifies veterans from critical benefits such as access to medical care through the Veterans Health Administration and a pension. Those who were honorably discharged but whose DD-214 states they separated from the military because of homosexuality are outed whenever they present their discharge form for benefits or during background checks for employment, according to Lori Rifkin, the litigation director for Impact Fund, a legal nonprofit that represented LGBTQ veterans in the lawsuit. 

“This is not about determining what the policy should be — Congress already determined, more than a decade ago, that people were discriminated against and they shouldn’t have been,” Rifkin said of the settlement. “This is about recognizing that all of that discrimination by the government has had lasting impacts on tens of thousands of people for years and about finally getting that wrong corrected and finally giving people the honor and recognition they deserve.”

The Justice Department declined to comment on the settlement, which still has to be approved by a federal judge. Once it is, affected veterans could begin having their discharge statuses upgraded to honorable as soon as the summer, Rifkin said. 

A group of veterans filed the lawsuit in August 2023 alleging that the effects of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which was in effect from 1994-2011, and earlier policies continue to violate their constitutional rights. In October, more than a year after the veterans filed their suit, the Pentagon announced that it had proactively reviewed the cases of 851 veterans who were discharged because of their sexual orientation with less than fully honorable characterizations. Following the review, the Pentagon upgraded more than 800 of those cases to honorable. 

However, that left tens of thousands of veterans discharged because of sexual orientation prior to “don’t ask, don’t tell” without relief, Rifkin said.

Lilly Steffanides, a Navy veteran and plaintiff in the lawsuit, was discharged in 1988 for being gay. Steffanides, who uses they/them pronouns, enlisted in the Navy at 19 because they wanted to serve their country. About a year and a half into their first tour of duty, they said, they missed their ship and their superiors searched their locker, where they found gay news magazines.

Steffanides said they were put in the ship’s brig and only fed bread and water for three days during an investigation. They were on the ship for another eight months before they were officially discharged, and during that time, they said, other service members physically and sexually harassed them, often calling them homophobic slurs.

The Defense Department referred all requests for comment to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Steffanides’ allegations.

The “other than honorable” discharge outed them to their family, who told them they couldn’t come home as a result, Steffanides said. 

“I turned real quickly into doing drugs, alcohol, anything I could to just blot out the shame I felt from my country and from my family, and I ended up homeless and did whatever I could to just get my next fix,” Steffanides said.

Steffanides was homeless for nearly 24 years. About halfway through that time, they were connected with a shelter for homeless veterans, which they said gave them a glimmer of hope, but the organization didn’t provide services to veterans with anything other than an honorable discharge, they said. 

Eventually, they connected with a pro bono attorney who helped them apply for a waiver that allows them to receive benefits including medical care and a pension. They’ve been sober for nearly five years, and they live with their husband in San Francisco. They said they’re overjoyed with the settlement, because even though they are able to receive benefits now, removing their sexual orientation from their DD-214 will allow them to take back their own narrative. 

“That is the root in the back of my head that tells me I’m invalid as a person,” they said. “That discharge for ‘attempting to engage in, engaging in or soliciting another to engage in a homosexual act,’ on my DD-214, is at the root of everything that’s gone wrong in my life, and having that changed would be like having shackles taken off of me. I feel like I’ve been bound to this rock that says, ‘You are a homosexual,’ for so long, and it has defined who I am.” 

Steffanides is now an active veterans advocate. They host a virtual weekly veterans support group called “Do Ask, Do Tell,” and they volunteer with American Legion, a veterans nonprofit. They said they received an award from the mayor of San Francisco for their community service.

“I wish I had gotten to serve longer, but I’m able to be of service today,” they said.