Serving the Silent Voices: LGBTQ Veterans

In a combat zone far from the United States, an infantryman monitors the surrounding area around his location. Sitting on a roof at night in 80+ degree heat and seeing the lights dance in the distance of Baghdad, the soldier thinks about home, his career, and his friends. He also served silently as a member of the LGBTQ community during the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell period in the mid-2000s. This soldier who had seen combat in Iraq would not be able to come out to anyone out of fear of losing his career.

The story may seem extreme, but hundreds of thousands of veterans faced these challenges throughout their careers and deployments. Before President Obama revoked the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell  policy, dozens if not hundreds of veterans would see their careers ended due to the policies and the UMCJ (complete law). A decade after the ban was lifted, many veterans faced hardships related to getting their discharges upgraded.

Recently, President Biden signed into law the ability for LGBTQ veterans with “other than honorable discharges” to get healthcare through the Veterans Administration. The VA has been working tirelessly to ensure that LGBTQ veterans are taken care of and that transgender veterans can receive both healthcare and the medicine needed. This direction in the right direction is happening after nearly 50,000 transgender veterans faced damaging discharges during the Trump presidency.

The Veterans Administration has been working tirelessly to ensure that LGBTQ veterans can get care. They have set up a complete department to handle the influx of roughly a million veterans who are now out as LGBTQ. The DAV (Disabled American Veterans) have been working to ensure that LGBTQ veterans are welcomed and cared for through advocacy.

Now that the wars have ended, the need to care for the GWOT veterans will be focused on mental, physical, and sexual health. “LGBTQ+ veterans experience depression and suicidal ideations at twice the rate of heterosexual Veterans,” according to the VA. This rate of suicide is alarming, as we do not know how many veterans identify as LGBTQ. According to a report by the GAO (Government Accountability Office) in October 2020, the Veterans Administration was still not fully ready for all the influxes of LGBTQ veterans needing care. The full report is available here.

LGBTQ veterans who face mental health and physical health limitations also face a higher rate of incarceration and substance abuse problems. Another issue facing LGBTQ veterans is the AIDS/HIV epidemic that has played the LGBTQ community for decades. While there are programs in place to help veterans, not all veterans take advantage of these programs, such as the Veterans HIV Program.

As LGBTQ veterans face the new horizon of adapting to better resources, more support, and much more acceptance, they face discrimination within their ranks. According to Mental Health, VA, LGBTQ veterans have had to adapt because providers, fellow veterans, healthcare workers, and the legal system have been problematic in helping them with their mental and physical health.

Transgender Veterans who faced legal and discharges from 2017 to 2020 have reversed thanks to President Biden in 2021. Around 15,000 transgender service members currently serve, and they’ve had to deal with no education benefits or healthcare and many other problems during the time of Trump. According to The National Center for Transgender Equality, 134,000 American veterans are transgender.

The Pride flag, which was designed by an Army veteran, has become a symbol of hope, protest, and inspiration for the LGBTQ community. The Pride flag was designed on June 25, 1978. Gilbert Baker (1951-2017) who served in the United States Army, designed the flag out of protest of the way he and other LGBTQ veterans were treated in the military.

“Flags are torn from the soul of the people,” he was quoted as saying. Baker would go on to create four decades worth of flags and become a symbol of hope and a leader in the LGBTQ community. You can read more about Gilbert Baker here.