When you earn an honorable discharge for your military service, the USA owes you a debt of gratitude at the very least. If your military service led to combat wounds, disabling injuries, or other ongoing debilitating effects, your honorable discharge should affirm your benefits. Sadly, that has not been the case for many veterans discharged due to sexual orientation. Remedies are in place when veterans’ benefits are denied to veterans in Indiana.

The post-World War II military unfairly discharged soldiers who identified as being gay, and these soldiers were largely denied full honorable discharges. Those who fought, suffered combat wounds or other injuries while serving in the field, and have ongoing medical and mental health conditions due to their selfless service to our nation, do not get the assistance owed to them via their veterans’ benefits.

LGBT Veterans’ Benefits Unjustly Denied

LGBT veterans’ advocates say about 114,000 former service members suffered involuntary separation from the military due to sexual orientation. That purge occurred over several decades, after the conclusion of World War II in 1945 until the Pentagon in 2011 formally ended its “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned LGBT personnel from serving in the U.S. military.

The end of the military’s anti-LGBT policy means military veterans were denied their justly earned veterans’ benefits due to less-than-honorable discharges can appeal and regain those benefits. Regaining those benefits requires them to petition the military to upgrade their prior discharges to honorable-discharge status.

An experienced veterans’ benefits attorney in Indiana can help to ensure wrongly discharged veterans can obtain their fully earned and owed benefits for their prior military service to the nation.