Joe Biden has moved to correct a “great injustice” by pardoning thousands of US veterans convicted over six decades under a military law that banned gay sex.
The presidential proclamation, which comes during Pride month and an election year, allows LGBTQ+ service members convicted of crimes based solely on their sexual orientation to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits.
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It grants clemency to service members convicted under Uniform Code of Military Justice article 125 – which criminalised sodomy, including between consenting adults – between 1951 and 2013, when it was rewritten by Congress.
That includes victims of the 1950s “lavender scare”, a witch-hunt in which many LGBTQ+ people employed by the federal government were viewed as security risks amid fears their sexual orientation made them vulnerable to blackmail. Thousands were investigated and fired or denied employment.
How insane is that that they’d make a person’s personal love life illegal? Like America just boggles my mind.
The whole thing was stupid circular logic…
many LGBTQ+ people employed by the federal government were viewed as security risks amid fears their sexual orientation made them vulnerable to blackmail.
LGBTQ people weren’t allowed in the government/military, so if you were LGBTQ, they kicked you out because someone could blackmail you for being LGBTQ…
You’re confusing them thinking it made sense, and not just an excuse.
But they stopped about a decade ago, it just took an election that Biden might not win for him to pardon the people who got fucked over for it.
And I’m sure someone is about to explain to me while waiting 4 years for Biden to do this is “smart”…
Because they don’t understand voters want politicians who try to help 24/7 and not just throwing out bread crumbs in the months before an election
People take LGBT rights for granted. Especially gay marriage. I remember when it wasn’t legal. And it only became legal because of the courts.
When people act like SCOTUS and the GOP would never come after established rights, they’re either ignorant or liars.
i feel like it’s worse if you do remember it or don’t take it for granted; because those who never got experience it refuse to believe it ever happened. (and i’ve run into a few on lemmyverse in the last few days who are old enough to remember but still refuse to believe it).
biden et. al voted for doma which ended up with the person i built a life with being deported and also they also voted for non-dischargable student load debt; that combined with don’t-ask/don’t-tell; forced me to take on permanent-for-life debt.
seeing him touted as the most pro-lgbt or progressive president ever on social media (especially the lemmyverse) feels like a slap every time i see it and seeing him take these token actions only serves to reinforce it.
Just wait until you learn about Alan Turing, the guy who made the Turing Machine (considered the first computer).
He committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide because the US government chemically castrated gay men like him - forced them to take drugs so that they couldn’t “get it up” to prevent them from committing “deviant behavior”.
And that wasn’t outside the norm 100 years ago for governments to do.
Just a correction, it isn’t entirely certain whether he killed himself or not. The apple wasn’t tested for cyanide and the chances he just inhaled too much while working are considerable.
Well, not that it changes anything about the horrible treatment he received because of his orientation though.
