US President Joe Biden on Wednesday granted amnesty to thousands of former military members who were previously convicted under a military law banning same-sex relationships. Amnestied individuals will now be able to access a number of privileges that are normally afforded to veterans, but from which they had until now been excluded due to their conviction.
In the United States, Article 125 of the Military Criminal Code, in force between 1951 and 2013, punished “sodomy” even between consenting people, and led to the conviction of many people in the army solely on the basis of sexual orientation. A very sad and famous case in US history was the “lavender scare” of the 1950s (literally, the “fear of lavender,” from the derogatory term used in the army to define homosexual men, “lavender boys”). At the time, the idea that people from the LGBTQ+ community could represent a risk to national security spread in government institutions and in the army, and so many of them were discriminated against, investigated or fired. A White House official said that the amnesty granted by President Biden will also cover those who had been involved in that affair.
“Today I am righting a historic wrong,” Biden said, specifying that the decision is aimed at ensuring that the culture within the military reflects that of American society in general.
In late 2023, President Biden also granted amnesty to people federally convicted of using or possessing marijuana. Biden said at the time that the decision would help “realize the promise of equal justice,” given that convictions for crimes related to drug use, possession or distribution have historically targeted Black and Hispanic people. more than the white ones.
