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.
To anybody watching at the time, all of Trump’s pardons and splashing presidential medals on horrifying goblins at the end of his admin was just disgusting. As if his entire term wasn’t a humiliating, grotesque mockery of American democracy.
He did let the ‘pot gramma’ out because Kim Kardashian asked, which was “nice” enough. But I’m sure he gave no shits other than what it was going to get him.
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