AUGUSTA - The Legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee voted Monday to advance LD 1523, sponsored by Rep. Morgan Rielly, D-Westbrook, which would establish a Qualifying Condition Review Board to review other than honorable veteran discharges based on gender identity, sexual orientation, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and military sexual trauma.
An other than honorable discharge refers to administrative discharges in which a military member can be removed from service. As a consequence, in many cases, the member loses access to veterans' benefits granted under state law and is no longer eligible to reenlist.
"Denying our dedicated service members their benefits solely due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, experiences with military sexual trauma or diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury is reprehensible," said Rielly. "Our veterans deserve the benefits they have earned through their service. A Qualifying Condition Review Board will allow veterans to access municipal and state benefits, services and programs they were unjustly cut off from."
Approximately 14,000 service members received other than honorable discharges between 1994 and 2011, when the "don't ask, don't tell" federal policy banned gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals from serving in the military.
The bill faces votes in the House and Senate in the coming weeks.
Rielly is serving his second term in the Maine House of Representatives and is a member of the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs. He represents House District 127, which includes a portion of Westbrook.
Contact:
Brian Lee [Rielly], 305-965-2744