Biden Expected to Pardon Veterans Convicted of Having Gay Sex
nytimes.comPresident Biden is expected on Wednesday to pardon American veterans who were convicted of engaging in gay sex under a military code that outlawed the behavior for more than 60 years.
Mr. Biden’s proclamation would grant clemency to some 2,000 people who were charged between 1951 and 2013, addressing a “historic wrong,” as the president said in a statement the White House released ahead of the announcement. “Today, I am righting an historic wrong by using my clemency authority to pardon many former service members who were convicted simply for being themselves,” Mr.
Biden said in the statement. “Despite their courage and great sacrifice, thousands of L.G.B.T.Q.I.+ service members were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Some of these patriotic Americans were subject to court-martial, and have carried the burden of this great injustice for decades.” The proclamation, which was reported earlier by CNN, addresses charges brought under Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a federal law that made it a crime to engage in “unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex,” even with mutual consent.
