While the military has proactively helped some veterans hurt by Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policies, a recent lawsuit settlement requires the Department of Defense to help far more former troops kicked out of the armed services for their sexual orientation.

Radha Manthe, an attorney who worked on the case, said she hopes the settlement will restore veterans’ pride in their service, particularly if it was tarnished by not receiving an honorable discharge. The settlement will require the DoD to proactively review veterans’ discharge statuses and upgrade them.  

“What’s important to me is having these veterans feel that their service was honorable, and that the country appreciates it,” she said.

An upgrade to an honorable discharge could also bring access to life-changing health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, among other services, Manthe said. 

The Department of Defense announced last fall that 824 troops discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell received proactive upgrades to their discharge statuses — changes that could allow them to receive health care, home loans and other benefits. The military said about 2,000 people received a discharge status under less than honorable conditions during Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The policy that was in place between 1993 and 2011 did not require recruits to disclose their sexual orientation, but banned people who identify as LGBTQ+ from serving.

However, a lawsuit filed in 2023 pointed out that the DoD discharged 35,801 people between Oct. 1, 1980, and Sept. 20, 2011, because of their sexual orientation. It called on the courts to make the DoD help all those hurt by its discriminatory policies by upgrading their discharge statuses if warranted. 

The settlement in the lawsuit reached earlier this month requires the Department of Defense to contact veterans hurt by these policies who were discharged during or after 1980 to ask if they would like to opt in to a review of their discharge status. Those discharged prior to 1980 still qualify for help, but the DoD can’t proactively contact them because the military does not have computerized records of their service, Manthe explained. 

The settlement also requires the DoD to allow veterans to request a change to their discharge paperwork if it lists their sexual orientation, to help protect their privacy. Manthe expects this will be a simple online process, similar to a name change. 

The agreement is expected to receive final approval from a judge in March and a few months later veterans who are eligible will start to receive letters asking if they would like to opt in to a review of their discharge status. Veterans will not have to submit any paperwork for that process, she said. 

Previously, veterans faced a long and onerous process to have their discharge status reviewed, that could include requesting their own files from the National Archives, Manthe said. 

Only 1,683 veterans had made it through the lengthy process, The Gazette reported in 2023.

If the incoming administration led by President-elect Donald Trump placed pressure on the DoD not to fulfill its obligations under the settlement, Manthe said, her firm could return to court to enforce the agreement.