The government could apologize for decades of discrimination and hostility toward LGBTQ+ in the federal workforce. The resolution, introduced Tuesday during Pride Month, acknowledges the mistreatment and wrongful terminations of LGBT civil servants, foreign service officers, and service members dating to 1949. Photo: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
The government could apologize for decades of discrimination and hostility toward LGBTQ+ in the federal workforce.
The resolution, introduced Tuesday during Pride Month, acknowledges the mistreatment and wrongful terminations of LGBT civil servants, foreign service officers, and service members dating to 1949.
U.S. Senators Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, and Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin who is the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to the Senate, introduced the resolution.
“LGBT civil servants, foreign service officers, and service members have made countless sacrifices and contributions to our country and national security. Despite this, our government has subjected them to decades of harassment, invasive investigations, and wrongful termination because of who they are or who they love,” Kaine said in a press release.
“This Pride Month, I’m proud to lead this resolution alongside Senator Baldwin to reaffirm our commitment to righting our past wrongs and fighting for equality for all LGBT Americans,” he said.
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Lavender Scare
The resolution spotlights the Lavender Scare, a period from the early 1940s to the 1960s when gay and lesbian service members and federal employees were targeted and persecuted.
In all, 100,000 LGBT service members and federal workers were discharged between World War II and 2011, most recently due to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which was implemented by President Bill Clinton and prohibited service members from disclosing their sexual orientation.
The Baldwin and Kaine resolution acknowledges the extensive harm caused by these discriminatory policies.
“… the Federal Government discriminated against and terminated hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who served the United States in the uniformed services, the Foreign Service, and the Federal civil service for decades, causing untold harm to those individuals professionally, financially, socially, and medically, among other harms,” the resolution said.
In an effort to correct some of these wrongs, former President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13672 in 2014, which outlawed federal contractors from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
In 2023, the Department of Defense announced a review of service records for individuals discharged due to their sexual orientation to assess eligibility for discharge upgrades.
The military has acknowledged the discriminatory nature of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and other policies, but LGBT veterans with dishonorable discharges are still required to individually prove that discrimination happened to have their records amended.
Earlier this year, The Advocate reported that three gay Democratic U.S. congressmen — Robert Garcia of California, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire — sent a letter to the Department of Defense demanding quicker action on resolving cases of LGBT veterans dishonorably expelled under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
The lawmakers emphasized the burdensome process veterans face to seek the respect and benefits they rightfully earned.
