Today, OutServe-SLDN issued the following in response to Rep. Jackie Speier’s (D-CA 14) amendment to the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2019, which will be signed today. The Congresswoman’s
amendment, which at OutServe-SLDN’s request was attached to the
legislation with bi-partisan support, provides three-million dollars to
the Boards of Corrections for Military and Naval Records to increase the
number of staff members reviewing applications, to provide for cultural
competency training of Board members, and to expand the Board’s
capacity for review of veterans’ applications. Allocation of these funds
to these Boards will ensure that they are able to process applications
more effectively and more efficiently, providing our veterans with
equitable and just relief.
The Boards for Corrections of Military and Naval Records are the highest
level of administrative review within their respective services. Each
Board has the mission to correct errors in, or remove injustices from,
military records. Currently, these tribunals are operating near their
upper time limitations.
“Our courageous servicemembers make huge sacrifices and take untold
risks for our country. But too many of them have received other than
honorable discharges because of their sexual orientation, trauma linked
to sexual assault, or the aftereffects of combat,” said Representative Jackie Speier, Ranking Member on the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee.
“Further funding of Corrections Boards will enable more of our brave
servicemembers to correct the record and access the benefits they’ve
earned.”
“We applaud Congresswoman Speier for aggressively ensuring our nation’s
Boards for Corrections of Military and Naval Records are properly
situated to provide our nation’s veterans with timely and due care,” said Andy Blevins, OutServe-SLDN Vice President of Operations & Strategy.
“It has been a pleasure working with the Congresswoman and her office
on this important initiative over the last several months. This is not
only a win for our LGBTQ veteran siblings, but for the veteran community
as a whole.”
There have been concerted efforts between the Departments of Defense and
Veterans Affairs, state agencies, and community partners to stream-line
applications for records corrections and make this avenue of relief
more available and widely known. An exponential increase in the number
of received applications is expected as veterans become aware of and
start utilizing this avenue. After noticing a dramatic increase in
time-to-decision for applications made to the Boards, OutServe-SLDN
requested that Rep. Speier include increased funding in the Defense
Authorization and assisted her office in preparing the legislative
language. Absent this implemented change, these
efforts would have resulted in a longer backlog and increased the length
of time in which veterans were waiting for their application decisions.
“OutServe-SLDN’s Restore Honor, Restore Freedom program
proudly offers our LGBTQ veteran community pro bono assistance as they
begin the process of correcting their unfavorable discharges stemming
from their sexual orientation or gender identity and to have their
discharge documents amended to reflect their true name,” said Peter Perkowski, OutServe-SLDN Legal & Policy Director.
“We look forward to further engaging with these tribunals to continue
providing these pro bono services to our members, working together to
ensure their discharge documentation accurately reflects the true
characterization of their military service and affords them access to
due benefits.”
OutServe-SLDN’s legal department has assisted hundreds of LGBTQ veterans
in upgrading discharge paperwork to remove their dead names and to
reflect the true character of their service to this country. It also
serves as the premier LGBTQ-focused VSO in the country, representing
LGBTQ veterans in VA benefits cases and appeals, as well as providing
cultural competency trainings to interested VSOs, state veteran
agencies, and community partners, streamlining advocative efforts
throughout the country for the LGBTQ veteran community.