President Biden Pardons Military Members for Gay Sex Convictions
Pardon will allow thousands of LGBTQ former service members to amend their military records and potentially recoup lost pay and benefits.
President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of former U.S. service members who were convicted of violating a now-repealed military regulation that criminalized sodomy.
The law in question, Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, stated that any person who engaged in “unnatural carnal copulation” with another person, regardless of sex, was guilty of “sodomy,” with any form of penetration being “sufficient to complete the offense.”
Those found guilty of engaging in sodomy could be “punished as a court-martial may direct.”
While the law technically outlawed military members from engaging in oral or anal intercourse with any partner, the law was primarily used to punish gay and bisexual men.
The law was first implemented in 1951 and repealed by Congress and former President Barack Obama in 2013 as part of the fiscal year 2014 defense authorization bill.
In its place, Congress rewrote the statute to make only sodomy by force, or with individuals who can’t consent, subject to a court-martial.
While the pardon won’t automatically change recipients’ criminal records, it will allow former service members convicted under Article 125 to request and receive proof that their conviction has been erased, petition to have their “other than honorable” discharges upgraded, and seek to recover lost pay or benefits.
“Today, I am righting an historic wrong by using my clemency authority to pardon many former service members who were convicted simply for being themselves,” Biden said in a statement released on Wednesday, June 25. “Despite their courage and great sacrifice, thousands of LGBTQI+ service members were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“We have a sacred obligation to all of our service members — including our brave LGBTQI+ service members: to properly prepare and equip them when they are sent into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return home. Today we are making progress in that pursuit.”
The White House estimates that several thousand service members will be covered by the pardon, with most of those receiving it having been convicted prior to the implementation of the 1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that allowed LGBTQ troops to serve — so long as they remained closeted.
That policy was later repealed by Congress in 2011 and signed into law by then-President Obama.
Wednesday’s pardon is the third such categorical pardon issued by Biden to grant clemency to a large group of people convicted of particular crimes. He previously issued categorical pardons in 2022 and 2023 for individuals convicted federally for possessing marijuana.
The timing of Biden’s announcement coincides with the celebration of June as Pride Month, coming just days prior to when he is to hold a high-profile fundraiser with LGBTQ donors in New York.
It also comes during an election year, when Biden — whose is either even with or trailing former President Donald Trump in most polls — is attempting to shore up support among key Democratic constituencies.
Lambda Legal, the organization that advocates for LGBTQ legal rights in the courts, hailed the president’s action.
“We are thrilled that the Biden Administration has taken this long-overdue corrective action to right a historic wrong and to restore to LGBTQ+ veterans the honor for their service that should never have been denied,” Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said in a statement.
Biden has previously ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to move towards offering benefits to service members who received “other than honorable” discharges under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) has previously introduced complementary legislation to correct those service members’ military records
Additionally, the Department of Defense is currently being sued for failing to grant honorable discharges to approximately 35,000 LGBTQ veterans who were barred from serving in the U.S. military. Last week, a federal magistrate judge rejected the department’s request to dismiss that lawsuit.
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