II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1766 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to review the discharge characterization 

of former members of the Armed Forces who were discharged by reason 

of the sexual orientation of the member, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 15, 2015 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, 

Mr. MARKEY, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WYDEN, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. PETERS, Mr. UDALL, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. BENNET, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. HEINRICH, Mrs. 

BOXER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. FRANKEN, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to review the discharge 

characterization of former members of the Armed Forces 

who were discharged by reason of the sexual orientation 

of the member, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restore Honor to Serv5 ice Members Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. REVIEW OF DISCHARGE CHARACTERIZATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with this section, 

3 the appropriate discharge boards— 

4 (1) shall review the discharge characterization 

5 of covered members at the request of the covered 

6 member; and 

7 (2) if such characterization is any characteriza8 tion except honorable, may change such character9 ization to honorable. 

10 (b) CRITERIA.—In changing the discharge character11 ization of a covered member to honorable under subsection 

12 (a)(2), the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that such 

13 changes are carried out consistently and uniformly across 

14 the military departments using the following criteria: 

15 (1) The original discharge must be based on 

16 Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (in this Act referred to as 

17 ‘‘DADT’’) or a similar policy in place prior to the 

18 enactment of DADT. 

19 (2) Such discharge characterization shall be so 

20 changed if, with respect to the original discharge, 

21 there were no aggravating circumstances, such as 

22 misconduct, that would have independently led to a 

23 discharge characterization that was any character24 ization except honorable. For purposes of this para25 graph, such aggravating circumstances may not in26 clude— 

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1 (A) an offense under section 925 of title 

2 10, United States Code (article 125 of the Uni3 form Code of Military Justice), committed by a 

4 covered member against a person of the same 

5 sex with the consent of such person; or 

6 (B) statements, consensual sexual conduct, 

7 or consensual acts relating to sexual orientation 

8 or identity, or the disclosure of such state9 ments, conduct, or acts, that were prohibited at 

10 the time of discharge but after the date of such 

11 discharge became permitted. 

12 (3) When requesting a review, a covered mem13 ber, or the member’s representative, shall be re14 quired to provide either— 

15 (A) documents consisting of— 

16 (i) a copy of the DD–214 form of the 

17 member; 

18 (ii) a personal affidavit of the cir19 cumstances surrounding the discharge; and 

20 (iii) any relevant records pertaining to 

21 the discharge; or 

22 (B) an affidavit certifying that the mem23 ber, or the member’s representative, does not 

24 have the documents specified in subparagraph 

25 (A). 

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1 (4) If a covered member provides an affidavit 

2 described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3)— 

3 (A) the appropriate discharge board shall 

4 make every effort to locate the documents speci5 fied in subparagraph (A) of such paragraph 

6 within the records of the Department of De7 fense; and 

8 (B) the absence of such documents may 

9 not be considered a reason to deny a change of 

10 the discharge characterization under subsection 

11 (a)(2). 

12 (c) REQUEST FOR REVIEW.—The appropriate dis13 charge board shall ensure the mechanism by which covered 

14 members, or their representative, may request to have the 

15 discharge characterization of the covered member reviewed 

16 under this section is simple and straightforward. 

17 (d) REVIEW.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—After a request has been 

19 made under subsection (c), the appropriate dis20 charge board shall review all relevant laws, records 

21 of oral testimony previously taken, service records, 

22 or any other relevant information regarding the dis23 charge characterization of the covered member. 

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1 (2) ADDITIONAL MATERIALS.—If additional 

2 materials are necessary for the review, the appro3 priate discharge board— 

4 (A) may request additional information 

5 from the covered member or the member’s rep6 resentative, in writing, and specifically detailing 

7 what is being requested; and 

8 (B) shall be responsible for obtaining a 

9 copy of the necessary files of the covered mem10 ber from the member, or when applicable, from 

11 the Department of Defense. 

12 (e) CHANGE OF CHARACTERIZATION.—The appro13 priate discharge board shall change the discharge charac14 terization of a covered member to honorable if such change 

15 is determined to be appropriate after a review is conducted 

16 under subsection (d) pursuant to the criteria under sub17 section (b). A covered member, or the member’s represent18 ative, may appeal a decision by the appropriate discharge 

19 board to not change the discharge characterization by 

20 using the regular appeals process of the board. 

21 (f) CHANGE OF RECORDS.—For each covered mem22 ber whose discharge characterization is changed under 

23 subsection (e), or for each covered member who was hon24 orably discharged but whose DD–214 form reflects the 

25 sexual orientation of the member, the Secretary of Defense 

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1 shall reissue to the member or the member’s representa2 tive a revised DD–214 form that reflects the following: 

3 (1) For each covered member discharged, the 

4 Separation Code, Reentry Code, Narrative Code, and 

5 Separation Authority shall not reflect the sexual ori6 entation of the member and shall be placed under 

7 secretarial authority. Any other similar indication of 

8 the sexual orientation or reason for discharge shall 

9 be removed or changed accordingly to be consistent 

10 with this paragraph. 

11 (2) For each covered member whose discharge 

12 occurred prior to the creation of general secretarial 

13 authority, the sections of the DD–214 form referred 

14 to paragraph (1) shall be changed to similarly reflect 

15 a universal authority with codes, authorities, and 

16 language applicable at the time of discharge. 

17 (g) STATUS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each covered member whose 

19 discharge characterization is changed under sub20 section (e) shall be treated without regard to the 

21 original discharge characterization of the member, 

22 including for purposes of— 

23 (A) benefits provided by the Federal Gov24 ernment to an individual by reason of service in 

25 the Armed Forces; and 

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1 (B) all recognitions and honors that the 

2 Secretary of Defense provides to members of 

3 the Armed Forces. 

4 (2) REINSTATEMENT.—In carrying out para5 graph (1)(B), the Secretary shall reinstate all rec6 ognitions and honors of a covered member whose 

7 discharge characterization is changed under sub8 section (e) that the Secretary withheld because of 

9 the original discharge characterization of the mem10 ber. 

11 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) The term ‘‘appropriate discharge board’’ 

13 means the boards for correction of military records 

14 under section 1552 of title 10, United States Code, 

15 or the discharge review boards under section 1553 

16 of such title, as the case may be. 

17 (2) The term ‘‘covered member’’ means any 

18 former member of the Armed Forces who was dis19 charged from the Armed Forces because of the sex20 ual orientation of the member. 

21 (3) The term ‘‘discharge characterization’’ 

22 means the characterization under which a member 

23 of the Armed Forces is discharged or released, in24 cluding ‘‘dishonorable’’, ‘‘general’’, ‘‘other than hon25 orable’’, and ‘‘honorable’’. 

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1 (4) The term ‘‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’’ means 

2 section 654 of title 10, United States Code, as in ef3 fect before such section was repealed pursuant to the 

4 Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (Public 

5 Law 111–321). 

6 (5) The term ‘‘representative’’ means the sur7 viving spouse, next of kin, or legal representative of 

8 a covered member. 

9 SEC. 3. REPORTS. 

10 (a) REVIEW.—The Secretary of Defense shall con11 duct a review of the consistency and uniformity of the re12 views conducted under section 2. 

13 (b) REPORTS.—Not later than 270 days after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter 

15 for a four-year period, the Secretary shall submit to Con16 gress a report on the reviews under subsection (a). Such 

17 reports shall include any comments or recommendations 

18 for continued actions. 

19 SEC. 4. HISTORICAL REVIEW. 

20 The Secretary of each military department shall en21 sure that oral historians of the department— 

22 (1) review the facts and circumstances sur23 rounding the estimated 100,000 members of the 

24 Armed Forces discharged from the Armed Forces 

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1 between World War II and September 2011 because 

2 of the sexual orientation of the member; and 

3 (2) receive oral testimony of individuals who 

4 personally experienced discrimination and discharge 

5 because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation 

6 of the individual so that such testimony may serve 

7 as an official record of these discriminatory policies 

8 and their impact on American lives. 

Æ 

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