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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
They will give a bye for previous smoking events
That varies extensively by department and administration.
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!
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.
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…
many LGBTQ+ people employed by the federal government were viewed as security risks amid fears their sexual orientation made them vulnerable to blackmail.
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?
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
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.
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.
I’m sure there were a few more pressing matters to deal with
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?
They could have fought the Russian influence
How much more money do we need to spend on the NSA and CIA to say we did that?
The democrats didn’t vote because it was laughable tRump would win
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.
You respond like a bot/troll.
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.
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
Why doesn’t everything I want happen instantly, the moment that I want it?
Likely because you don’t have a large lobbying firm or a country club full of politicians to schmooze with.
Probably Biben’s fault
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.
