Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Joe
Lieberman and Mark Udall are calling on Secretary of Defense Leon
Panetta to assist gay veterans discharged under Don't Ask, Don't
Tell.
In a letter to Panetta, the lawmakers
called on the secretary to use his authority to streamline the
process of removing references to a veteran's sexual orientation in
his or her discharge paperwork.
The senators noted current guidance,
which says that while “each request must be evaluated on a
case-by-case basis,” having “an honorable or general discharge
should normally …. indicate the absence of aggravating factors,”
before saying that the current process of altering discharge
paperwork is “protracted and overly burdensome for veterans who …
should be entitled to have their discharge documents corrected.”
“We understand that changing
discharge paperwork is not a small matter and that in most cases a
careful case-by-case evaluation is warranted,” the lawmakers wrote.
“But as long as a former service member's Narrative Reason for a
discharge is 'Homosexual Conduct,' 'Homosexual Act' or 'Homosexual
Marriage,' that service member is compelled to be 'out' to any future
civilian employer and anyone else who sees the document. Likewise,
the negative reentry code serves as a barrier to employment
opportunities.”
“Therefore, the process should be
streamlined for those veterans discharged under DADT who have
honorable or general discharges and only seek changes to their
narrative reason for discharge and their reentry code. … The
Department should further clarify that, where there are no
aggravating factors in the service member's record, the presumption
should be in favor of the correction.”
Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), joined in calling for
the changes.
“It's time to expedite this process
to ensure that this discriminatory law doesn't do further damage to
our veterans and their families,” Sarvis said in a statement.