President Joe Biden on Wednesday is expected to pardon U.S. veterans who were convicted over a six-decade period for having gay sex when it was explicitly banned by a military law. The move will affect about 2,000 people who faced charges between 1951 and 2013 under Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which outlawed sodomy even for consenting adults. Congress rewrote the code in 2013 to remove the ban. “Today, I am righting an historic wrong by using my clemency authority to pardon many former service members who were convicted simply for being themselves,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House prior to the announcement. “Despite their courage and great sacrifice, thousands of LGBTQI+ service members were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Some of these patriotic Americans were subject to court-martial, and have carried the burden of this great injustice for decades.”
