The Restore Honor to Service Members Act Languishes Under Republican Party Obstruction

Mark Pocan (D-WI) will have to be a magician if he's going to get his Restore Honor to Service Members Act (H.R. 2839) out of committee and passed into law. Sure, Pocan rounded up 144 cosponsors for his bill, but only one-- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen-- is a Republican. Her colleagues are accustomed to writing off her pro-LGBT actions because she doesn't hassle them over their homophobia and because she has a huge LGBT population in her blue-leaning district. The bill would require "appropriate military record correction boards or discharge review boards to review the discharge characterization of any former members of the Armed Forces requesting a review who were discharged because of their sexual orientation. Permits such boards to change a characterization to honorable if such characterization is any characterization except honorable." It directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to ensure that any such changes are carried out consistently and uniformly across the military departments using specified criteria, including that:"

(1) the original discharge was based on the policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell (as in effect before it was repealed pursuant to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010) or a similar earlier policy; and

(2) the discharge characterization will be changed if, with respect to the original discharge, there were no aggravating circumstances, such as misconduct, that would have independently led to any discharge characterization except honorable.

Over in the Senate, one of the LGBT community's most dependable allies, Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the same bill there. So far he's gotten 22 of his colleagues to sign on as cosponsors. Are you senators on the list with Schatz?

• Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Mark Udall (D-CO)
• Al Franken (D-MN)
• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
• Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
• Mark Begich (D-AK)
• Michael Bennet (D-CO)
• Ben Cardin (D-MD)
• Ed Markey (D-MA)
• Ron Wyden (D-OR)
• Cory Booker (D-NJ)
• Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
• Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
• Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
• Chris Murphy (D-CT)
• Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
• Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
• Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
• Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

This week a Board member of Equality Hawaii, veteran Kory Rosette, wrote a heartfelt letter about his own travail around this issue.

I’m a proud combat veteran of the Iraq War, having served two tours of duty and receiving three awards for meritorious service. But because of the faulty Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, I was kicked out of the military, simply for being gay.

Even though the policy was repealed three years ago, thousands of veterans like me still bear the scars of this discrimination, with dishonorable or less than honorable discharges staining our military records and marks on our records that compromise our right to privacy.

Help right the wrongs of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Sign on as a Citizen Co-Sponsor of Senator Brian Schatz’s Restore Honor to Service Members Act.

Many of the 114,000 brave men and women wrongly discharged from the armed services since World War II because of who they love are barred from receiving the benefits they earned. In the worst cases, some are even legally prevented from calling themselves a veteran.

This is an affront to the people who put their own self-interest aside to serve our country. The time to end this disgrace is now.

Ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a proud moment for gay veterans like me, but too many veterans still are treated unequally and are not receiving the correct honor they deserve. After decades of institutionalized discrimination, It’s time to finish righting those wrongs.

This legislation to make sure my service is honored means so much to me and other current or former service members and our families. It’s one of the many reasons that I’m proud to say that Brian Schatz is my U.S. Senator.

Senator Schatz, on introducing the bill said that "[t]he repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was a watershed moment, ending institutionalized discrimination that unjustly targeted gay and lesbian members of the military. Yet thousands of former service members still bear the scars of that discrimination, with their military records tarnished with discharges other than honorable and marks on their records that compromise their right to privacy. Many of these brave men and women that served our country are currently barred from benefits that they earned and are entitled to, and in the most egregious cases they are prevented from legally calling themselves a veteran. This needs to be corrected now."

A far more conservative Democrat, Colleen Hanabusa, is primarying Senator Schatz from the right. A corrupt corporate shill backed by EMILY's List, Hanabusa would be a major downgrade in the seat in terms of women's issues, LGBT issues, environmental issues, economic equality issues and everything related to the Military Industrial Complex, which has significantly financed Hanabusa's shady career. If you'd like to help reelect Schatz, remember, no contribution is too small.