Congress rushes to restore benefits for LGBT veterans
U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Charles Rangel (D-NY) have joined forces with LGBT veterans to craft the Restore Honor to Service Members Act, a bill that would help LGBT veterans who were discharged because of their orientation clear their records. Currently, an estimated 114,000 veterans who were dishonorably discharged because of their sexual orientation between the end of World War II and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell are eligible to have their discharges rendered honorable and their benefits restored.
On a conference call today, Pocan — who is co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus — said that when he and Rangel first announced a plan for the bill in June, they were “cautiously optimistic that we could receive the support of a good number of colleagues. But I think I speak for Congressman Rangel and myself that we didn’t anticipate that we’d receive the kind of strong support that we’ve received from [House] members all over the country.”
Currently the bill has 102 co-sponsors from both parties and was introduced on to the House floor Thursday. Under its tenets, veterans would not only be eligible for health and retirement benefits, but the appeal process for having the terms of their discharge changed would be simpler. The current process is reportedly a bureaucratic nightmare, with no standardized set of documents required or formal procedures in place, which means that veterans can have wildly different experiences with getting their discharges upgraded. Many are forced to hire attorneys to negotiate the thicket of legal obstacles and hurdles currently in place.
Pocan said that the bill aims to create a “timely, consistent and transparent process” by which veterans can review their records and become eligible for an honorable discharge. The change can have a real impact on a veteran’s life, he said, given that the conditions of one’s discharge can have very real consequences.
More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/25/congress-rushes-to-restore-benefits-for-lgbt-veterans/
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