III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 275 

Acknowledging and apologizing for the mistreatment of, and discrimination 

against, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who served 

the United States in the Armed Forces, the Foreign Service, and the 

Federal civil service. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 17, 2021 

Mr. KAINE (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. 

WYDEN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WARNER, Mr. CASEY, Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. 

ROSEN, Mr. COONS, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. CARDIN) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Acknowledging and apologizing for the mistreatment of, and 

discrimination against, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 

transgender individuals who served the United States 

in the Armed Forces, the Foreign Service, and the Federal civil service. 

Whereas the Federal Government discriminated against and 

terminated hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (referred to in this preamble as 

‘‘LGBT’’) individuals who served the United States in 

the Armed Forces, the Foreign Service, and the Federal 

civil service (referred to in this preamble as ‘‘civilian emVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:08 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR275.IS SR275

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 275 IS 

ployees’’) for decades, causing untold harm to those individuals professionally, financially, socially, and medically, 

among other harms; 

Whereas Congress enacted legislation, led oversight hearings, 

and issued reports and public pronouncements against 

LGBT military service members, Foreign Service members, and civilian employees; 

Whereas the policy that led to the discharge and systematic 

screening of gay, lesbian, and bisexual military service 

members was codified in a 1949 decree by the newly consolidated Department of Defense, which mandated that 

‘‘homosexual personnel, irrespective of sex, should not be 

permitted to serve in any branch of the Armed Forces in 

any capacity and prompt separation of known homosexuals from the Armed Forces is mandatory’’; 

Whereas the Federal Government maintained policies to drive 

hundreds of thousands of LGBT military service members, who honorably served the United States in uniform, 

including many who were fighting in wars around the 

world, from its military ranks; 

Whereas, in 1993, Congress enacted the National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (Public Law 

103–160; 107 Stat. 1547), which contained the so-called 

‘‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’ policy that prohibited lesbian, 

gay, and bisexual military service members from disclosing their sexual orientation while they served in the 

Armed Forces; 

Whereas, despite the ‘‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’ policy, LGBT 

military service members continued to be investigated 

and discharged solely on the basis of the sexual orientation of those military service members; 


SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 275 IS 

Whereas historians have estimated that at least 100,000 military service members were forced out of the Armed 

Forces between World War II and 2011 simply for being 

LGBT, while countless others were forced to hide their 

identities and live in fear while serving; 

Whereas, although the ‘‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’ policy was intended to allow qualified citizens to serve in the Armed 

Forced regardless of their sexual orientation, the policy 

was inherently discriminatory against LGBT military 

service members because it prohibited those service members from disclosing their sexual orientation; 

Whereas, with the enactment of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell 

Repeal Act of 2010 (10 U.S.C. 654 note; Public Law 

111–321), Congress joined military leaders in acknowledging that lesbian, gay, and bisexual military service 

members serve the United States just as bravely and well 

as other military service members; 

Whereas the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (10 

U.S.C. 654 note; Public Law 111–321) and the 2016 policy shift of the Department of Defense, which permitted 

transgender individuals to enlist and openly serve in the 

Armed Forces, has made the Armed Forces stronger and 

more effective; 

Whereas military leaders have likewise acknowledged that, in 

addition to lesbian, gay, and bisexual military service 

members, transgender service members also serve the 

United States just as bravely and well as other service 

members; 

Whereas, under the pressures of the Cold War, and at the 

instigation and lead of Congress, the Federal Government 

also pursued anti-LGBT policies, which resulted in tens 


SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 275 IS 

of thousands of LGBT civilian employees being terminated; 

Whereas the Department of State began investigations into 

employees for alleged homosexual activity as early as the 

1940s; 

Whereas following Senator Joseph McCarthy’s targeting of 

gay employees in the Department of State in 1950, the 

Senate held hearings on ‘‘The Employment of Homosexuals and other Sex Perverts in the Government’’, 

which— 

(1) led to the issuance of a widely read report that 

falsely asserted that gay people posed a security risk because they could be easily blackmailed; and 

(2) found that gay people were unsuitable employees 

because ‘‘one homosexual can pollute a Government office’’; 

Whereas, in response to Senator McCarthy’s allegations 

against gay people, the Department of State increased its 

persecution of lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees; 

Whereas more than 1,000 Department of State employees 

were dismissed due to their sexual orientation, and many 

more individuals were prevented from joining the Department of State due to discriminatory hiring practices; 

Whereas thousands of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals 

served honorably in the Department of State as Foreign 

Service officers, Foreign Service specialists, civil servants, 

and contractors, upholding the values, and advancing the 

interests, of the United States even as the country discriminated against them; 

Whereas the effort to purge gay and lesbian employees from 

the Federal Government was codified in 1953 when 


SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS
5 

•SRES 275 IS 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 

10450 (18 Fed. Reg. 2489; relating to security requirements for Government employment), which— 

(1) defined ‘‘perversion’’ as a security threat; and 

(2) mandated that every civilian employee and contractor pass a security clearance; 

Whereas, over many decades, the Federal Government, led by 

security officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 

the Civil Service Commission (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘CSC’’), and nearly every other agency of 

the Federal Government, investigated, harassed, interrogated, and terminated thousands of lesbian, gay, and bisexual civilian employees for no other reason than the 

sexual orientation of those employees; 

Whereas these discriminatory policies by the Federal Government, the largest employer in the United States, encouraged similar efforts at the State and local level, particularly in higher education and the private sector; 

Whereas, in 1969, the United States Court of Appeals for the 

District of Columbia Circuit ruled in Norton v. Macy, 

417 F.2d 1161 (1969) that— 

(1) ‘‘homosexual conduct’’ may never be the sole 

cause for dismissal of a protected civilian employee; and 

(2) the potential embarrassment stemming from the 

private conduct of a civilian employee may not affect the 

efficiency of the Federal civil service; 

Whereas, despite the decision in Norton v. Macy, the CSC 

continued its efforts to rid the Federal Government of 

gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees until 1973, when the 

United States District Court for the Northern District of 

California ruled in Society for Individual Rights, Inc. v. 

Hampton, 63 F.R.D. 399 (1973) that the exclusion or 


SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS
6 

•SRES 275 IS 

discharge from Federal civil service of any lesbian, gay, 

or bisexual person because of prejudice was prohibited; 

Whereas many Federal Government agencies, including the 

National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of State, none of which were 

subject to the rules of the CSC, continued to harass and 

seek to exclude lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals 

from their ranks until 1995, when President Bill Clinton 

issued Executive Order 12968 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to access to classified information), which barred 

the practice of denying a Federal Government security 

clearance solely on the basis of sexual orientation; 

Whereas transgender military service members, Foreign Service members, and civilian employees continued to be harassed and excluded from Federal civil service until 2014, 

when President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 

13672 (79 Fed. Reg. 42971; relating to further amendments to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government, and Executive 

Order 11246, Equal Employment Opportunity), which 

prohibited the Federal Government and Federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; 

Whereas, on January 9, 2017, Secretary of State John Kerry 

issued a formal apology for the pattern of discrimination 

against LGBT Foreign Service members and civilian employees at the Department of State; 

Whereas, despite persecution and systematic mistreatment by 

the Federal Government beginning in the early 1940s 

though the 1990s, including what historians have labeled 

as the ‘‘Lavender Scare’’, LGBT individuals have never 

stopped honorably serving the United States; 


SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS
7 

•SRES 275 IS 

Whereas LGBT individuals continued to make significant 

contributions to the United States through their work as 

clerks and lawyers, surgeons and nurses, Purple Heart 

recipients and Navy Seals, translators and air traffic controllers, engineers and astronomers, teachers and diplomats, rangers and Postal Service workers, and advisors 

and policy makers; 

Whereas other countries throughout the world, including 

some of the closest allies of the United States, have 

apologized for similarly discriminating against LGBT 

military service members, Foreign Service members, and 

civilian employees; and 

Whereas, in order for the United States to heal and move 

forward, the Federal Government must accord all LGBT 

individuals who were discriminated against by, wrongfully 

terminated by, and excluded from serving in the Armed 

Forces, the Foreign Service, and the Federal civil service 

the same acknowledgment and apology: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

3 The Senate— 

4 (1) acknowledges and condemns the discrimina5 tion against, wrongful termination of, and exclusion 

6 from the Federal civil service, the Foreign Service, 

7 and the Armed Forces of the thousands of lesbian, 

8 gay, bisexual, and transgender (referred to in this 

9 section as ‘‘LGBT’’) individuals who were affected 


SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS
8 

•SRES 275 IS 

1 by the anti-LGBT policies of the Federal Govern2 ment; 

3 (2) on behalf of the United States, apologizes 

4 to— 

5 (A) the affected LGBT military service 

6 members, Foreign Service members, veterans, 

7 and Federal civil service employees; and 

8 (B) the families of those service members, 

9 veterans, and Federal civil service employees; 

10 and 

11 (3) reaffirms the commitment of the Federal 

12 Government to treat all military service members, 

13 Foreign Service members, veterans, and Federal civil 

14 service employees and retirees, including LGBT indi15 viduals, with equal respect and fairness. 

16 SEC. 2. DISCLAIMER. 

17 Nothing in this resolution— 

18 (1) authorizes or supports any claim against 

19 the United States; or 

20 (2) serves as a settlement of any claim against 

21 the United States. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS