I fully support this ... but I predict it will become the "scandal/controversy du jour" when introduced ~ ~ Sooz

Congressmen File Bill To Restore Honorable Discharges To Expelled Gay Servicemembers
By Josh Israel on Jun 21, 2013 at 12:05 pm

Representatives Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) announced Wednsday that they will sponsor a bill to correct the records of gay and lesbian service members who received less-than-honorable discharges purely on the basis of their sexual orientation.

An estimated 114,000 members of the U.S. Armed Services were kicked out for being gay or lesbian, prior to the 2011 repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Many who served with distinction received dishonorable or general discharges — instead of the honorable discharges they’d have otherwise received — for no reason other than their sexual orientation.

According to Rangel and Pocan, some gay and lesbian former service members are blocked from voting, unemployment benefits, participating in the GI Bill and receiving veteran benefits such as health care, VA disability, and ceremonial burial rights at military cemeteries, as a result of their unfavorable discharge status.

Their “Restore Honor to Service Members Act” would streamline the cumbersome process for correcting these discharges. The proposal would also repeal the military’s arcane ban on consensual sodomy.

Pocan told the Washington Blade he expects the bill to be filed next week with co-sponsors.

Rangel, serving his 22nd term in Congresss, received both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for Valor for his service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Pocan, who began his first term in January, is one of six openly LGBT people in the 113th Congress.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/06/21/2194921/honorable-discharges-expelled-gay-servicemembers/