For Immediate Release
January 31, 2014
Contact: AVER Public Affairs
Denny Meyer 718 849-5665
publicaffairs@aver.us
AVER endorses the Restore Honor to Service Members Act
“Act will streamline the discharge upgrade process”
Albuquerque, NM – American Veterans for Equal Rights supports and endorses the Restore Honor to Service Members Act, introduced in the Senate on January 30th by Senators Shatz (D HI) and Gillibrand (D NY), following the bill’s introduction in the House of Representatives last Summer by Representatives Rangel (D NY) and Pocan (D WI). The act will streamline the discharge upgrade process for those service members discharged “due to homosexuality” since World War II, both before and during the DADT era.
AVER was consulted during the initial development of the bill. As noted in the Senators’ press release below, AVER has long advocated that, “LGBT veterans who served and sacrificed in silence during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as those who served before and during ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ in the Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan, deserve to see their service recognized and honored at long last.”
AVER President Steve Loomis (LTC Ret.) stated, “It is extremely important that this act be passed to provide correction of less than honorable discharges given during and before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy. Now is time to heal the damages that an ill conceived DADT policy did to many of our patriot GLBT veterans. It is the logical completion of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Streamlined procedures for changing the characterization, narrative and reenlistment codes for discharges for homosexuality will be announced following the passage for this bill. Corrections are necessary to avoid inaccurate assumptions by potential employers or veterans benefits agencies when dealing with GLBT veterans.
Senator Schatz’ Press Release, including AVER’s commentary and a summary of the bill, may be seen at:http://www.schatz.senate.gov/press-releases/schatz-gillibrand-seek-justice-for-service-members-discharged-due-to-sexual-orientation
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Today marks the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States of America. 72 years ago today the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked US military forces on the island territory of Hawaii, setting into motion a massive mobilization of Americans that would leave our nation dramatically changed in its demands for equality. Women, racial minorities, LGBT people, and other disenfranchised citizens would experience military life and the challenges of war where survival was based on teamwork and divisions disappeared in the necessity of working side-by-side with people who were different. Prejudices were dissolved, and minorities demonstrated their equal patriotism through courage and sacrifice. American servicemen and women would experience the horrors of the battlefield and discoveries of atrocities committed against minorities overseas, and they would return home determined that oppression was an unacceptable step towards Holocaust. Women would leave traditional roles and take on jobs outside the home for the first time, and many more would serve in the war performing vital duties where women had never been welcome before. And LGBT Americans would leave the oppressive life of small town America to discover a world where they were more free to find love and fulfillment. Today we must pause to remember the many young men and women who lost their lives this day, and give a thoughtful 
moment to recall the beginning of a titanic struggle, a struggle that would leave our great nation as one of the superpowers of the earth, and a people determined to build a society where all citizens could one day enjoy genuine freedom and the the true justice of equality. We are the evolving dream of American largely due to the events of today, those incredible 72 years ago.
