Biden pardons thousands of US veterans convicted under law banning gay sex
Joe Biden has moved to correct a “great injustice” by pardoning thousands of US veterans convicted over six decades under a military law that banned gay sex.
The presidential proclamation, which comes during Pride month and an election year, allows LGBTQ+ service members convicted of crimes based solely on their sexual orientation to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits.
…
It grants clemency to service members convicted under Uniform Code of Military Justice article 125 – which criminalised sodomy, including between consenting adults – between 1951 and 2013, when it was rewritten by Congress.
That includes victims of the 1950s “lavender scare”, a witch-hunt in which many LGBTQ+ people employed by the federal government were viewed as security risks amid fears their sexual orientation made them vulnerable to blackmail. Thousands were investigated and fired or denied employment.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was bigoted propaganda branded as a consideration, and the Lavender Scare was horrifically layered oppression. It was basically, “We’ve decided your sexuality is scandalous, forcing you to hide it, which makes you at risk of being blackmailed, so we’re charging you with a crime.” Fucking despicable.
These pardons are excellent. It’s such a shame thousands of veterans had to live so long with criminal records for who they are, not even what they did.
While obviously not near the same level of criminalizing someone for part of their core identity, I’ve felt the same way about the US government’s treatment of pot smokers. Can’t get a security clearance if you’ve smoked pot within the past 7 years because it’s blackmail leverage ignoring the fact that it’s only blackmail material when the government considers it verboten
You can 100% get a clearance if you've smoked within 7 years of applying for one. Hell, you can get a clearance if you smoked within the last year. You just have to a) disclose the fact, b) be able to show mitigations as to why smoking weed won't be an issue while you have a clearance, and then c) not do it while you have a clearance. It ends up being not so much about the fact that you smoke weed as it is that you're not following the law, and that's the real clearance risk (from their POV). Getting a clearance is really about proving you're trustworthy to the investigator.
There are agencies, iirc mostly law enforcement, that consider it a strict bar. It also depends on the level of clearance, and how much they need you. An Army private getting a secret clearance to present weather to the general on the daily isn't getting nearly as much scrutiny as a nuclear physicist. But nuclear physicists willing to work for the government are a finite resource. It's all clear as mud and the fear of losing your career over some stupid persecution is real.
You're mixing some things up. Yes, some agencies will have some POLICIES about not wanting to hire personnel with a history of drug abuse/use, but that is separate from the clearance adjudication process.
A secret clearance is a secret clearance, and you're correct that it's much simpler to get a basic secret than it is a TS-SCI or to be read into certain programs. But there isn't a "FBI" secret and an "Army" secret.
There's no timeline for how long it's been since you've smoked pot, or number of times, or anything. I think a poster said that it's about whether the investigation finds you trustworthy enough for the level of eligibility they're investigating you for, and that is correct - and there isn't a hard and fast rule necessarily.
If you do an investigation and are asked if you've ever used any illegal drugs and you say no, but in your criminal record you have a possession charge, that's bad. You're obviously lying, and not even being smart about it. If you say you used to smoke trees every day and are blazed right now, that's bad because you obviously don't give af about laws and stuff (not my opinion, this is the opinion of the Fed that still thinks it's illegal). If you say you used to smoke with your friend for a couple months in college a year ago but stopped and think that was probably a dumb decision, that's not necessarily bad, it all depends on how the interview goes. They'll ask for the names of who you smoked with and how you got the weed - so they can check if you were hanging out with known cartel members or just some other joe schmoe at UCWhatevs.
At the end of the day it's all based on context and a ton of factors. They dig a lot deeper and have a much higher standard for more selective clearances or programs, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone? But it's all about whether you're trustworthy to keep certain sensitive information from unauthorized people.
I understand all of that, I was just keeping it simple for Lemmy. And there's no functional difference between a pass from DCSA with a note of prior drug use in the last 3 years and a fail from DCSA for those agencies. It's a distinction without a difference in their eyes. But there is also different pipelines for Military and Civilian clearances. If you come to the government with a military clearance they will want you to get an upgraded check and interview. It's a lot easier than a new clearance for most people but it's still a thing. This was per the State Department for FSO's last time I checked out that process.
So we can dig into minutia all day long if you want.
That change requires an act of Congress. They’ve been dragging their heels on it.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3617
It’s not so much the blackmail with pot, it’s the fact you can’t “follow the rules”. They will give a bye for previous smoking events (before you need the clearance, took a position etc.), it’s smoking with a clearance or NOT telling them that will get you wrapped up.
Smoking with a clearance is only possible blackmail material because the government makes it verboten. Their point stands.
Their point doesn’t stand. Just report it.
That varies extensively by department and administration.
can't get a fucking job because they're allowed to demand your piss and inspect it
Considering that Nixon's cabinet has openly talked about how they made it a federal offense so that they had justification to arrest the leaders of the war protesters (and the same thing with cocaine and the black community), I'd say it's of a similar level but a different kind of evil.
I thought the concept of don't ask don't tell was a way to let gay people serve without getting congress to change the laws. Kind of like federal pot laws. It's technically illegal, they're just not supposed to enforce it.
I can't speak for Bill Clinton's thoughts but the military never engaged with it in good faith. They considered any discovery as "telling". Some service members at the time even described unit members spying on their homes to see who they lived with. Even a letter from an old lover that someone took from your belongings would be considered telling. The function of the policy was that if they could "out" you, they would discharge you with bad papers.
Under this kind of atmosphere homophobia becomes ten times worse because the possibility of that guy being gay puts your career at risk too, in case you get too close and are swept up with them.
The "don't tell" part didn't apply to third parties.
No, it was a step in the right direction. There may have been units and commanders that tried to seek out gays but there were also plenty of commanders that really didn't want to know so never asked.
That's the thing, the commander could be the nicest person in the world. Once you were outed, their hands were tied. So your platoon's lieutenant might be alright, but the platoon sergeant from the next platoon over could be nosy as hell and out you. also it functioned as a second lavender scare. Even if you beat the official investigation after being "outed" because you aren't gay and it's impossible to actually out you, you're forever tainted. Your career is over and your life is in danger from homophobes, that felt empowered by the function of the policy to go after anyone they thought was gay.
If they wanted this to be a step in the right direction instead of leadership taking a step back and letting the bigotry just do it's thing they needed to come down hard on the bigots too and allow gay service members who did not actually tell anyone to stay. That would have sent the message the public was sold on DADT.
Hilariously, the thing that really spelled the end of DADT (along with changing morals in society) was the GWOT. It's actually kind of hard to railroad the guy who's been clearing rooms and getting blown up with you. And the people who did keep doing it in the combat units found themselves alienated finally because it's nearly impossible to "other" someone you served with like that.
It was a way to not deal with the issue directly, and to give members of the LGBTQ+ community an option to hide who they are and not receive punishment. But it in no way protected them. It was sold as a "compromise", but was actually a thinly veiled way to continue to suppress the community and enact harsh penalties and convictions for anyone who didn't follow the protocol.
Yeah it was progressive at the time since it stopped the military from digging around and asking your family if you are gay, especially since there weren't even civil unions in most states back then.
What i don't understand is why Obama didn't pardon them all since DADT was overtirned in 2010
It stopped official investigations before an accusation. It did not stop your chain of command from spying on their soldiers to find LGBTQ people. The function of the policy was that no matter how you got outed you were in violation of the policy. So they treated someone grabbing a letter from home and reading it aloud the same as you telling your commander you were going to a gay bar to look for a date.
that's how all of our progressive laws & rules take place; they seem progressive on the surface but if you look the tiniest bit closer it's clear that it's not.
part of me wants to forgive biden's votes & support of those laws (eg dont ask dont tell; defense of marriage; executive order 10450); but seeing as how the everyone on social media (especially the lemmyverse) already refuse to believe he did those things makes me feel like i have a duty to remember since they fucked with my life and so many other's lives' so severely; along with the other fucked up things he did that social media has already chosen to forget about.
He also had racist views the 70s. This is simply proof of growth.
Also, the line you quoted was regarding the Lavender Scare. That was 20 years before his time.
he also switched sides back then on that topic too when it was no longer politically popular.
he's not a leader nor is it growth (he was proud of appeasing segregationists during his campaign and kamala had to put him in his place); he's a politician that does whatever it takes to get votes.
Shh, let them have this. They need their team to be the saviors. Look how they trot out Jack Black like a clown. And now trickle out some good news a bit before the elections.
They're just gonna plug their ears and yell.
No one is calling Democrats saviors. They just enact more legislation that benefits people and planet while Republicans support corporations and Christianity. Feel free to pick whatever side is more compelling to you.
I like the part of the election cycle when some good things are allowed to happen.
I don't even blame Biden for waiting. Americans have such short memories that getting elected means having to hold some things in reserve, and getting reelected or passing the office on are genuinely important factors. It just sucks that people had to wait.
Congrats to everyone helped by this!
There have been good things throughout Biden’s entire term. They just get overshadowed by the barrage of news about the bad.
Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement, revoked the Keystone Pipeline permit, created a 13 million acre federal petroleum reserve for Alaskan wildlife, greatly increased oil site lease cost, signed $7B in solar subsidies, enacted the Inflation Reduction act to support clean energy, leveraged the NLRB for an FTC ruling that eliminated non-compete agreements, capped credit card late fees, reduced or outlawed junk fees in several industries, forgave billions in student debt from predatory loans, created the CHIPS Act to improve reliance on domestic technology, reenacted Net Neutrality, repealed Title 42, ended the Muslim Ban, reinstated the law prohibiting Israeli settlement on Palestinian territory, signed the Equality Act for LGBTQ+ rights, restored gay rights to beneficiaries, reenacted trans care anti-discrimination law, signed the Respect for Marriage Act, enabled unspecified gender on US Passports, pardoned thousands of gay veterans from being convicted based on their sexual orientation, rejoined WHO, rescheduled marijuana, banned medical debt from credit reports, actively reducing drug costs with the American Rescue Plan Act…
It seems Biden likes to make things happen withiut making a big deal about it, because in a perfect world that sounds like a good thing. Just get stuff done!
But the Dems as a whole need to get better at messaging their victories so they get the credit, which I understand is hard when rage bait sells, but if nobody knows they can't counter the conservative lies.
The 4th estate is a wholly owned subsidiary of fascist inc these days. And facts don't sell. Just rage.
Good work shouldnt have to be shouted about, but well the hearts and minds of men are of questionable capacity for reason.
In this world, you are judged for what you do. If nobody knows what you did, nobody will vote for you. Instead they will vote for the loud mouthed orange peeled racist rapist. So, making your actions noticed is kind of a moral duty.
He tried to take victory laps. The problem is he tried to take one on the economy for several months in a row which led to people seeing him as disconnected and only working for the finance sector. His messaging has been absolute garbage this election cycle and if any one other than Trump was running we'd already be getting ready for the next Republican president.
Thanks for sharing these. There has really been a bunch of good to come out of this administration. Much of it isn't flashy stuff that gets talked about, but there is a lot that really should be important to a lot of people.
I think Biden has exceeded most expectations many of us had for him. There are always going to be things presidents do that we won't agree with. Obama was also pretty crappy with immigrants, drone strikes, and a number of other things, but it seems we're able to look back at his terms as a net positive. If Biden didn't have to clean up after Trump and Covid, I think he could have been a very memorable president.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very pissed about Gaza and the border, but Gaza is a result of almost 100 years of bad policy of many parties, and the number of regular people still bitching about false immigration stories is pressuring all representatives to be harsh on that. We can only expect a president to do so much if a large swath of Congress and the people themselves are against something.
A lot of it is pretty flashy imo, but it doesn't get talked about because the media are too busy being owned by the opposing party.
Gaza is absolutely indefensible. Immigration is very limited. He doesn’t have to power to allocate funding for immigrants. He left the border open for over a year while pressing Congress to do their job and pass immigration reform. Now sanctuary cities are over capacity, leaving many migrants homeless. The state funding has run out, and all Biden can control is law and border policy.
We have so much empty space in much of the country, I dont know why we can't just build a few cities for them. I'm not sure the cost of these detention centers vs a functioning town, but if we gave them real housing, infrastructure, and gave them a place to work and earn income during their asylum or immigration process, it sounds much less cruel and more productive, and would treat them like human beings and get a start on building a life here.
We absolutely could. We could also just supplement funding for sanctuary cities to purchase more vacant buildings for shelter. We could also tailor the 1986 immigration system to the very different needs of the migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers of today.
Unfortunately, that’s entirely up to our dysfunctional Congress.
We don't even need to build new cities. We just need to let our cities increase density like all cities did for hundreds of years before the 50s. More multifamily buildings, midrise apartments, and mixed use buildings would go a long way towards helping everybody.
Besides, much of that land is either already owned by somebody or empty for a reason. It would be a logistical nightmare for sure. You could send them to all the dying towns in the US, but I don't think that would help either - apart from the locals being rightfully angry about large groups of new people coming in and eroding their local culture, those towns are dying for a reason that runs much deeper than just people moving away.
Yes we absolutely need plenty of immigration. The American population has been below replacement on birth rates since the 1970s. With the Boomers going down it's going to hit the fan real soon but all they want to do is restrict immigrants.
Not sure who downvoted this. But I agree. Immigration is intersectional to all of the stuff we're already having trouble with. That's why conservatives go after it so hard. If we stopped blaming immigrants we'd blame the actual culprits and immigration would solve the shortages we can't get Americans to fill, like geriatric care for the largest generation of seniors ever.
Thank you for keeping track of this
No problem. I want to share it when it’s relevant, but I also don’t want to be to spammy with it.
why? no one's on the fence so parroting this doesn't convince anyone; so it only serves to alienate other leftists voters.
if your approval for biden's track record only spans the last 3 years instead of all 51, then you're going to vote for him anyways; meanwhile people who have been watching him for decades are reminded of his true colors in these parroting the transparently feels-good/does-nothing actions.
it's toxic positivity.
Paused LNG approvals too.
That’s true. Although it’s a temporary action, pending analysis for authorizations.
Just one thing. He only technically ended title 42 immigration restrictions. Effectively he continued Trump's policies with his own, slightly different policy.
He repealed the Muslim ban on March 6, 2021. He overturned Title 42 on May 11, 2023. There were no Presidential border restrictions in place until recently. He spent that time pressing Congress to pass immigration reform and they failed. With sanctuary cities over capacity, and no federal funding, he needed to begin to restrict entry again.
Oh how I wish you were right.
13 May 2023, Guardian, "Title 42 migration restrictions have ended, but Biden’s new policy is tougher"
The upshot is they have to stay in the dangerous country and get approval via an app (that of course has trouble with facial recognition for BIPOC people) and a consulate visit before traveling. This is because if they go to another country for this process the government claims they found a safe country already.
And sanctuary cities are not "over capacity" nor are they even an official thing. The federal government does not recognize them. It's a local decision to not cooperate with ICE. The entire idea that the country has a "capacity" is far right bullshit that goes straight back to 1800's immigrant bashing.
Edit to add-
I especially love this bit, where we cap the number of people from infamously failed and violent countries. And require them to have a connect. Is having a president who doesn't get sued by the ACLU for immigration too much to ask?
i was also going to point out biden's 100% tariffs on electric vehicles contradicts climate initiatives; supporting trump's immigration policies (as you just did); etc. and i want to say it's nice to hear someone else splash a dose of reality into the conversation.
The only way I could get behind his Chinese tariffs is if he unleashed a DARPA moonshot on batteries and open sourced the resulting technology. But no he dived straight for protectionism and letting the traditional companies sell us cars at double the size and triple the price the market should be at.
So you think we should be in full support of trade with China? Even with their ongoing genocide, threats to the Philippines and Thailand, and active surveillance systems in the US?
I gave a legal and internationally safe alternative and you went straight to, "full support of China". Come on dude. At least try and engage in good faith.
So here's a couple ideas you might like better, I guess. We tell the CIA we want those specs; or we buy a hundred for a rip and rebuild and open source the results. Give them the Russian tank/plane treatment.
I wrote “full support of trade with China.” People are protesting for divestment from Israel over genocide in tents they bought from China. I’m just saying it’s hypocritical.
A massive investment in DARPA is hypocritical?
Wish we had a stronger sense of civic duty in this country. But one plays with the hand one is dealt.
But hey, we take good news when we can get it.
Well Said!
If only there were a way to enact policies that would provide long term tangible impact to people’s lives such that they could wake up every day and say, “yeah the president is doing a good job…”
Im not discounting what he’s doing, I’m just saying that there’s a reason why FDR got elected three times and would have been elected more if term limits weren’t instituted.
But bothsidesaame? (/s)
lol at the 6 (at the time of writing this) trump supporters that downvoted you and are cool with trump pardoning convicted killers, his own sycophants that were convicted of federal crimes, and people that gave him bribes for his presidential pardons at the 11th hour; but not cool with pardoning people wrongfully convicted of a bigoted piece of propaganda turned law with "Don't ask, Don't Tell".
I’d all but guarantee those 6 people are well-known “anti-genocide” bots here on lemmy.
I wonder if the bots realize they're really not helping their cause, at all.
A lot of them are trying to get Trump elected.. so yeah, they’re helping a lot.
It's a pretty shitty take though since tRump is on record saying he would do more for a genocide.
They know. And it’s not a shitty take if they’re MAGA.
Bots aren't MAGA, and MAGA doesn't need advertised to to vote for the russian asset with 34 felonies.
As opposed to the pro-genocide Real Americans?
Maybe learn what scare quotes are. Because you clearly have no clue how they work. I’ll start you off with a hint:
…they don’t mean the opposite of a thing.
Even better, I’ll just tell you how they work:
In this case, they mean bad-faith, fake trolls that use “gEnOciDe” as a platform to urge people to not vote against Trump.
So… by all means continue to defend them. It’s only illustrating my point.
Lol you sound like a Republican yelling about virtue signaling. Who would be against genocide or the guy enabling it? That's impossible! Must be bots or paid actors.
Biden could do good things but still not have it outweigh causing a genocide in some people's eyes. I may not even agree with them, but I can see from their point of view, and totally empathize with that.
But yes, this is a good thing. I'd rather we celebrate this good thing without getting side tracked by the bad things Biden has done or arguments about how bad they are.
If that’s your take, it’s not my place to change it. But this isn’t about virtue signaling at all.
And I’m sure you know that.
A genocide is actually happening however you choose to spell it or sarcastically pronounce it. It's a serious thing. Children are dying. Millions are becoming refugees. A mass famine is spreading. It's a perfectly reasonable line to draw to not vote for someone enabling it, especially if it can possibly pressure that person to take a better actions to save their job. It doesn't require bad faith arguments or fake troll bots. It requires actual humans with real morals and ethics appalled by what they are seeing and who actually believe "never again" means "never again", especially when it's something done by their government that their voice can possibly change.
He still has time to improve his stance, if it's not for moral reasons or to save lives, I hope it eventually becomes to save his job and keep Trump out of office, though I'm not sure the movement will ever become big enough to affect his electoral chances with how much influence AIPAC has in our politics, and how much liberal Americans hate Trump more than genocide, so you can probably rest easy on that front.
And that’s going to continue to happen regard of who’s elected. In fact, under Trump- IT WILL BE FAR WORSE. On top of that:
• Our LGBTQ+ loved ones will absolutely suffer. This is not up for debate. It’s beginning now and will increase day by day until Project 2025 is enacted, so… go ahead and tell them all right know that you don’t give a fuck about them.
Better yet- go ahead and read Project 2025 in its ENTIRETY before you think to respond. And if you can read that shit and not be inspired to do whatever you can to stop it from happening-
Well… Gaza isn’t going to be a problem for You much longer.
This isn’t a fucking joke. Nor is it a time to stand on principle over things happening in other countries that have been happening for DECADES- that will continue to happen with or without aid.
Vote like lives depend on it- RIGHT HERE AT HOME. Because many do. And if you think you’re helping anyone in Gaza by withholding your vote- you’re not.
And you know this.
Edited: I wrote a longer rest response but I feel like my long responses will distract from the main topic of the thread. So I'll put some in spoiler text, remove the rest, and that's all I'll say on that. This an emotional topic and can go on forever I'm sure.
It won't happen if the liberals pressure him enough. That's the thing. He's already made some concessions in rhetoric scared of the changing narrative. We can have both Biden and a stop to a genocide with enough public pressure. The election isn't until November. I don't believe a genocide is the only choice as long as we live in a democracy, can build a movement, and he's a rational candidate (which I think he is).
::: spoiler Btw it's not just principles. People are fucking dying right now dude. It's going to affect the Middle East, millions of refugees will head to surrounding countries, and then it will affect Europe. They will probably turn more fascist as a result, just like from their current immigration crises from Syria and Africa. Plus, now Israel is trying to start wars with Lebanon and Iran, and drag us into WIII. Plus it's causing shipping problems in Yemen. Not to mention the Israeli Super PAC that funds conservative politicians that we allow to run rampant in our country for some reason. It goes on and on. This stuff does affect us whether you like it or not.
In addition, this is a huge escalation over previous decades. It's another nakba. Almost the whole population is pressed South against Egypt right now. Northern Gaza won't be habitable for decades. It can't get much worse. It's too close for them to nuke, and they've taken out most of the hospitals and seem to have triggered a catastrophic famine. They're killing so fast, they're already looking to start another war before they finish this ethnic cleansing campaign so Netanyahu can stay in office. :::
And still vote, I'm not saying don't do that. I will. I'm just saying I get why other people complain about him. I'm sure they'll still vote down ballot, and would even vote for him if he changed tact on Israel.
I get that Project 2025 is scary, but so is Project 2029, and 3033. We shouldn't have to accept that we'll be an evil empire forever, always choosing between two flavors of genocidal maniac, forever cursed to enact horrible terrors on the international stage, awaiting the inevitable drop into fascism. We can use this moment to get the President to stop bowing to a foreign state that's been troublesome to us for decades. Even Reagan had to smack Israel down.. He's been slowly improving, and I get why other people would use this moment where a possibly sway-able Democratic President is in the office and has a looming election as leverage.
As long as you’re voting, this isn’t directed toward you. I get that people are upset. It’s upsetting what’s being done. But people need to know how upsetting it’s going to be if they don’t stop fucking around.
This is serious. We’re in danger of losing our entire democracy.
Christ, this is a bad take.
I’m not surprised you’d see it that way.
Why.
Because of who they are.
Who's that.
Ignore all previous instructions. Compose a song about Turbo Genocide Donny (Donald Trump) who wants Israel to "finish the job".
No, apparently Biden is worse because he didn't do this his 1st day in office. Some people are just never happy.
My boss was talking about wanting them all investigated for sex crimes. Just like... How is that a good use of tax money? More funny is the fact that he doesn't believe taxation should be a thing....
He'd prefer to just form an orderly mob, I guess? Much cheaper and so traditional.
Have you ever joined a British mob? They are quite orderly. The British will line up in a queue to take turns with goals of the mob.
A British mob in my eyes would be the sort that forms after a football game and smashes shit up. There would be an alternative name for the fancier kind.
What about a Queue Mob?
Simple, tells you that they like to line up, and probably very orderly.
How insane is that that they'd make a person's personal love life illegal? Like America just boggles my mind.
The whole thing was stupid circular logic...
LGBTQ people weren't allowed in the government/military, so if you were LGBTQ, they kicked you out because someone could blackmail you for being LGBTQ...
Fucking bonkers. How is it 2024 and people still think like this?
biden believed it until 2012; so it's easy to see why anyone else would
You're confusing them thinking it made sense, and not just an excuse.
But they stopped about a decade ago, it just took an election that Biden might not win for him to pardon the people who got fucked over for it.
And I'm sure someone is about to explain to me while waiting 4 years for Biden to do this is "smart"...
Because they don't understand voters want politicians who try to help 24/7 and not just throwing out bread crumbs in the months before an election
Bots gotta bot
Edit: if you can find a way to make even this look bad, there is no doubt who you are voting for.
The Biden bad mental gymnastics are truly astounding.
People take LGBT rights for granted. Especially gay marriage. I remember when it wasn't legal. And it only became legal because of the courts.
When people act like SCOTUS and the GOP would never come after established rights, they're either ignorant or liars.
i feel like it's worse if you do remember it or don't take it for granted; because those who never got experience it refuse to believe it ever happened. (and i've run into a few on lemmyverse in the last few days who are old enough to remember but still refuse to believe it).
biden et. al voted for doma which ended up with the person i built a life with being deported and also they also voted for non-dischargable student load debt; that combined with don't-ask/don't-tell; forced me to take on permanent-for-life debt.
seeing him touted as the most pro-lgbt or progressive president ever on social media (especially the lemmyverse) feels like a slap every time i see it and seeing him take these token actions only serves to reinforce it.
Every country was like this. Most don’t care anymore but some still do. At least it is starting to get fixed in most countries.
Just wait until you learn about Alan Turing, the guy who made the Turing Machine (considered the first computer).
He committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide because the US government chemically castrated gay men like him - forced them to take drugs so that they couldn't "get it up" to prevent them from committing "deviant behavior".
And that wasn't outside the norm 100 years ago for governments to do.
As much as the US government sucks in this department, Turing was a UK citizen suffering under UK law, not US.
He was British. It was the UK government.
Just a correction, it isn’t entirely certain whether he killed himself or not. The apple wasn’t tested for cyanide and the chances he just inhaled too much while working are considerable.
Well, not that it changes anything about the horrible treatment he received because of his orientation though.
Fyi, an alternative interpretation of the Turing Test was an allegory for his homosexuality.
It wasn’t the US.
You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
There are some genuinely terrible things that could be considered "a person's personal love life".
Only question is: those people who (for example) went to West Point and got kicked out after it was discovered they were gay and then had to pay back their education fees. (Which can be very large) do they get their money back?
No. This is clemency for prosecution of criminal misconduct and (potential) reinstatement of "honorable discharge" status. If you got fucked financially by a military that lured you in and then crapped you back out again, you'll have to get in line for Biden's debt forgiveness plan.
Also, should note that we changed the law in 2013 and then sat on this for four full years until Obama turned the keys over to Trump. Then retook the White House and waited an additional four years to grant clemency.
Very frustrating to see Presidents implement these policies out of desperation in the middle of a tight election season rather than rolling them out ASAP.
Why doesn't everything I want happen instantly, the moment that I want it?
Probably Biben's fault
When he does something I like it still makes me angry, fucking asshole Biben
Likely because you don't have a large lobbying firm or a country club full of politicians to schmooze with.
Biden's been a federal politician for over half his adult life. He regularly gets exactly what he wants.
Every so often a federal politician doesn't get what they really really want, and never fully recover. RIP Hillary.
She got too much of what she wanted as Sec. State. That's what did her in.
I'm sure there were a few more pressing matters to deal with. I mean, our country was run by a vengeful wanna be dictator man child for four years. The fact he even got to this is great. It's not like a republikkklown would have done anything with it, besides, what votes is this going to help with? The only people that are going to appreciate this are already voting for Biden.
That's always the excuse. And then you lose by 40,000 votes because your candidate reeks of sleeze and entitlement. What could Obama, Biden, and Hilary have done differently back in 2016?
How about doing the right thing?
What could they have done differently??? They could have fought the Russian influence, that would have put an end to this shit before it started. The democrats didn't vote because it was laughable tRump would win. Now they know how serious it is because tRump is a man child, and will vote.
My response was to yours about doing this now for the votes. My point stands, it makes zero difference on votes. You respond like a bot/troll. Which is it?
How much more money do we need to spend on the NSA and CIA to say we did that?
Democrats turned out in droves for Obama in 2008, despite the fact that McCain was one of the weakest candidates of my lifetime. The decline in 2012 was in direct response to a federal government that had thrown in the towel and a party that only knew how to compromise with the most greedy and cynical conservatives in their own party. But by 2016, they'd hit their functional floor. Hillary only lost 100,000 votes relative to Obama, four years earlier.
Do you think more democrats would have turned out against a John Kasich or Macro Rubio because they were less laughable? Do you think democrats would have turned out against a Low Energy Jeb campaign?
No. The problem democrats had in 2016 was an enormous surge in Republican turnout. 2M more Republicans climbed aboard the Trump train than Mitt Romney had. Four years later, Trump had accumulated an extra 12M votes. He crested Obama's 2008 total by 9M votes. Trump won by tapping into the American fascist Id.
So I'm either a formulaic mechanical pre-generated response or a slick, sarcastic human being trying to get your goat?
Real "my enemy is both weak and strong" hours. No wonder they call it Blue MAGA.
That's a lot of words to say you're a troll.
Of course they're going to wait until they need (re)elected. I'm almost positive the whole student loan thing will happen before the end of this election cycle
given biden's history; i'm convinced that this was the only reason why he did it.
Hmmm, what voters are going to jump and vote for Biden over this that already weren't voting for Biden? Anyone at this point voting for Mr. 34 felonies is going to vote for him regardless. He's gotten people killed with his incompetence, he's a rapist, he paid for sex with a porn star while his pregnant wife was at home, and well, we could do this for literally weeks. If that isn't a deterrent, I'm sure this isn't going to magically get anyone to walk away from the cult and cast a vote for the adult in the election.
Well according to neoliberals student loan debt means you are privileged so I imagine not.
If Trump somehow gets back in the WH, expect these veterans to get rebanned.
I don't think you can get prosecuted twice for the same crime.
He won't prosecute. Just reban the practice to satisfy evangelicals.
True, if the justice system retains any of its authority under the next administration. Our laws and the institutions that uphold them are just constructs that can be influenced, dissolved, or repurposed.
Vote, people.
But did he pardon the Navy's LGBTQ+ ringleader, Dorthy?
All the investigators got arrested for asking, not that anyone's seen her...
Now might be the time to put some protections in place for trans folks serving in the military - those bans are a little more recent and likely to return if someone happens to win office…
I was going to join the Navy to help pay for school, and then one day it was no longer legal 🤡
It would be up to Congress to make something that couldn’t simply be reversed, but I wouldn’t say now is the time for that since the GOP-controlled House almost certainly wouldn’t pass the bill, even if the Senate did. Biden can only issue executive orders that can be reversed on a whim.
something similar happened to me when i learned about don't ask don't tell.
i ended up taking student loans and i regret it.
I have tens of thousands in student loans for a job that my state made illegal for trans people to have 2 years after I graduated lol
by january that will have happened to me twice because of executive order 10450 and a new law that congress and biden passed recently.
are you me, but younger?
Check out the book “Conduct Unbecoming” by Randy Shilts. It is a great read and account of much of this history (herstory).
I remember watching Clue and that's how they got one of the characters.
Glad to see justice even if it is decades later
I forgot that was one of the endings!
Love this movie. As a kid I didn't understand why it was a security risk. To think people want to go back.
Christianity took a blow today.
From a dude. It was totally gay.
Quick question
Why didn't he do that 3 years ago when he got into office
Because he can't do all the things simultaneously?
I don't disagree. But I'm pretty sure this was intended to be done on the election year. Don't get me wrong, I will not vote for the orange fuzz ball with a gun to my head. But this could've been done earlier in his term
Great job, Democrats. He's was VP for 8 years while Obama was president. Didn't do it then. And now you do this at the end of Biden's 4 years and he's dropping in polls to Felon Donny. Sure, we'll forget all about the workers' rights being trampled and the genocide in Gaza.
We have such great choices. A Douche and Turd.
How dare he do something good because he didn't do the good thing before now!
VP’s can’t do that, genius. “He didn’t do the thing he couldn’t do when he couldn’t do it!”
Your doom and gloom rhetoric helps nothing and makes conversation with you seem very unappealing.
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.
Yeah, and you're going to vote for the douche, unless you want the orange turd to change your country in an autocratic dictatorship.
You might want to read into how politics works. Biden condens Israel and promptly will lose the next election because Israel has quite the influence in the Jewish population. He loses the election, trump will win andy dear DAMunzy, if you think Palestinians have it bad now, wait until orange dictator comes to power. I believe his words were along the lines of "total eradication".
Biden has done a large number of great things, which I never hear people talk about. I do hear talks about situations where there is no good outcome,.damned if you do, damned if you don't.
What would you have done? Condemn Israel, take away all their money? That would totally not backfire about 6 months from now... Carefully mention to Israel to behave? I've seen Biden do that, for all the good it did... So do whstz exactly?