(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Doubling down on his efforts to alienate conservatives, the White House announced that Joe Biden is set to issue a mass pardon for veterans convicted of consensual same-sex activities.
This move comes despite his earlier vote for a law that banned gays and lesbians from the military when he was a senator.
The 81-year-old Democrat will reveal this pardon before joining pop star Elton John at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the modern gay rights movement.
“We can’t give an exact number, but the administration estimates that there are thousands of individuals who were convicted of consensual conduct under the UCMJ provision 125 and who may therefore be eligible for the pardon,” a Biden administration official said.
“This is a historic injustice, and the president is therefore taking this historic step to ensure that we live up to our sacred obligation to care for all service members, veterans and their families,” the official continued.
Biden is currently at Camp David, preparing for Thursday’s CNN debate against former President Donald Trump. Yet, it is uncertain if he will publicly address the mass pardon or his role in past military discrimination.
As a senator, Biden voted in 1993 for the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allowed service members to be expelled if outed. Both Biden and Trump are courting gay voters ahead of a close election, with Trump hosting Log Cabin Republicans events at Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower.
Moreover, Biden has had a mixed record on LGBT rights. He was one of 32 Senate Democrats who voted in 1996 to ban same-sex marriage federally and supported a 1994 rule against promoting homosexuality in schools with federal funding.
However, as vice president in 2012, Biden expressed comfort with same-sex marriage, influencing other Democrats. In 2021, he repealed Trump’s ban on transgender military service and nominated Pete Buttigieg as the first openly gay Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate.
Even though mass pardons are rare in U.S. history, this will be Biden’s second, following the 2022 clemency for simple marijuana possession under federal law, which did not release any inmates.
During his 2019 presidential campaign, Biden promised to free all those imprisoned for pot offenses, but the 2022 pardon was seen as insufficient, prompting protests outside the White House.
Copyright 2024, GoRealNewsNow.com