I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2904 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 15, 2017 
Mr. POCAN (for himself, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. CORREA, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. 
BEATTY, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BROWN of 
Maryland, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON of 
Indiana, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. 
CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 
CRIST, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. CURBELO of Florida, Mrs. DAVIS of Cali-
fornia, Mr. DELANEY, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. DEUTCH, 
Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. ESTY of Connecticut, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. 
FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 
HANABUSA, Mr. HECK, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. HIMES, Ms. 
NORTON, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KEATING, Ms. KELLY of Illi-
nois, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KIHUEN, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KIND, 
Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. LEE, Mr. TED LIEU of Cali-
fornia, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. MICHELLE 
LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALO-
NEY of New York, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. 
MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE, Mr. MOULTON, 
Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NOLAN, 
Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PERL-
MUTTER, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POLIS, Mr. RASKIN, Miss RICE 
of New York, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of 
Ohio, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHNEIDER, 
Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, 
Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. SOTO, Mr. 
SWALWELL of California, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Ms. 
TSONGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. WALZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. 
WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. YARMUTH, and Mr. BRADY of 
Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
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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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restore Honor to Serv-
ice Members Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REVIEW OF DISCHARGE CHARACTERIZATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with this section, 
the appropriate discharge boards— 
(1) shall review the discharge characterization 
of covered members at the request of the covered 
member; and 
(2) if such characterization is any characteriza-
tion except honorable, may change such character-
ization to honorable. 
(b) CRITERIA.—In changing the discharge character-
ization of a covered member to honorable under subsection 
(a)(2), the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that such 
changes are carried out consistently and uniformly across 
the military departments using the following criteria: 
(1) The original discharge must be based on 
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (in this Act referred to as 
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‘‘DADT’’) or a similar policy in place prior to the 
enactment of DADT. 
(2) Such discharge characterization shall be so 
changed if, with respect to the original discharge, 
there were no aggravating circumstances, such as 
misconduct, that would have independently led to a 
discharge characterization that was any character-
ization except honorable. For purposes of this para-
graph, such aggravating circumstances may not in-
clude— 
(A) an offense under section 925 of title 
10, United States Code (article 125 of the Uni-
form Code of Military Justice), committed by a 
covered member against a person of the same 
sex with the consent of such person; or 
(B) statements, consensual sexual conduct, 
or consensual acts relating to sexual orientation 
or identity, or the disclosure of such state-
ments, conduct, or acts, that were prohibited at 
the time of discharge but after the date of such 
discharge became permitted. 
(3) When requesting a review, a covered mem-
ber, or their representative, shall be required to pro-
vide either— 
(A) documents consisting of— 
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(i) a copy of the DD–214 form of the 
member; 
(ii) a personal affidavit of the cir-
cumstances surrounding the discharge; and 
(iii) any relevant records pertaining to 
the discharge; or 
(B) an affidavit certifying that the mem-
ber, or their representative, does not have the 
documents specified in subparagraph (A). 
(4) If a covered member provides an affidavit 
described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3)— 
(A) the appropriate discharge board shall 
make every effort to locate the documents speci-
fied in subparagraph (A) of such paragraph 
within the records of the Department of De-
fense; and 
(B) the absence of such documents may 
not be considered a reason to deny a change of 
the discharge characterization under subsection 
(a)(2). 
(c) REQUEST FOR REVIEW.—The appropriate dis-
charge board shall ensure the mechanism by which covered 
members, or their representative, may request to have the 
discharge characterization of the covered member reviewed 
under this section is simple and straightforward. 
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