(27 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASHES++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dickinson County, Michigan – 27 June 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Karla Lehmann, former military service member:
"Well, I got word that, President Biden had announced that he was going to pardon those that were convicted of crimes that involved homosexuality during their military service."
++WHITE FLASH++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Karla Lehmann, former military service member:
"So I admitted that I was gay and they gave me a discharge that was other than honorable conditions, in lieu of court martial and for the good of the service. So I don’t actually have that conviction on my record. So I’m not sure if this pardon can apply to me. But I’m hopeful that the direction that he’s going with the pardons will help me in the future to change my situation, my discharge."
++WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Karla Lehmann, former military service member:
"It’s just embarrassing to have to explain to somebody why your discharge, your military discharge is other than honorable. And to have to explain that you were charged with a crime of sodomy and and indecent acts and, then to explain why that happened, and, it’s just really a humiliating experience and, and frustrating to sit there and wonder if it’s going to keep you from getting, getting the job that you want."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
President Joe Biden pardoned potentially thousands of former U.S. service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex, saying he is “righting an historic wrong” to clear the way for them to regain lost benefits.
Biden’s action Wednesday grants a pardon to service members who were convicted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s former Article 125, which criminalized sodomy. The law, which has been on the books since 1951, was rewritten in 2013 to prohibit only forcible acts.
Those covered by the pardon will be able to apply to receive proof that their conviction has been erased, petition to have their discharges from the military upgraded and move to recover lost pay and benefits.
In 1988, Karla Lehmann was an Army soldier in 1988 when she and three other female solders were forced to plead guilty to charges of sodomy and indecent acts to avoid a court martial and possible prison sentence.
"So I admitted that I was gay and they gave me a discharge that was other than honorable conditions, in lieu of court martial and for the good of the service. So I don’t actually have that conviction on my record," Lehmann said.
Lehmann believes that "other than honorable" discharge prevented her from being hired by at least one law enforcement agency. She eventually got hired by the Milwaukee Police Department, where she served for 25 years. She now works as a victims advocate for the Michigan State Police.
Lehmann hopes that her discharge order will be upgraded to "honorable" instead of "other than honorable."
The president’s use of his pardon powers is occurring during Pride Month and his action comes just days before he is set to hold a high-profile fundraiser with LGBTQ donors in New York on Friday. Biden is trying to rally support within the Democratic-leaning community ahead of the presidential election.
Modern Military, the nation’s largest organization of LGBTQ+ service members and their families, said the decision was a “historic step towards justice and equality," and called on the military to approve the pardons quickly.
Administration officials declined to say why Biden did not act on the pardons sooner.
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