Discharge

There has yet to be retribution for veterans discharged “dishonorably” under or prior to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for being LGBTQ. A grassroot organization wants that to change.

South Korea determined that being transgender is a “mental or physical” handicap in pushing for an immediate discharge for its first trans soldier.

The Pentagon has ordered a halt to all separations of gay and lesbian service members under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” complying with a ruling this week in federal court that ordered an immediate halt to the ban’s enforcement.

An Air Force spokesman on Thursday confirmed that the Secretary of the Air Force approved a discharge under the military’s ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on April 29, this first such discharge since the Pentagon on Oct. 21, 2010, directed that ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharges would require the approval of the service branch secretary.

A case that has taken on an appearance of an attempt by Navy officials to discharge a service member for “implied” homosexuality has LGBTQ activists angry, and the U.S. Navy scrambling to defend its position.

Lt. Dan Choi, an Iraq war veteran who has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military ban on openly gay service members, has been discharged from the Army National Guard.