[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 103 (Tuesday, June 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4156-S4157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SENATE RESOLUTION 740--ACKNOWLEDGING AND APOLOGIZING FOR THE 
 MISTREATMENT OF, AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST, LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, 
    AND TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS WHO SERVED THE UNITED STATES IN THE 
UNIFORMED SERVICES, THE FOREIGN SERVICES, AND THE FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE

  Mr. KAINE (for himself, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Coons, Mr. Merkley, Mr. 
Fetterman, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Schatz, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Casey, Mr. 
Durbin, Mr. Markey, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. 
Gillibrand, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Warner) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs:

                              S. Res. 740

       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 uniformed 
     services, the Foreign Service, and the Federal civil service 
     (referred to in this preamble as ``civilian employees'') 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;
       Whereas historians have estimated that at least 100,000 
     military service members were forced out of the uniformed 
     services 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, with many being denied access 
     to the benefits granted to honorably discharged veterans;
       Whereas, although the ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy was 
     intended to allow qualified citizens to serve in the Armed 
     Forces 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 111321), 
     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 111321) and the 2016 policy shift 
     of the Department of Defense, which permitted transgender 
     individuals to enlist and openly serve in the Armed Forces, 
     have made the Armed Forces stronger and more effective;
       Whereas, in 2023, 12 years after the repeal of the ``Don't 
     Ask, Don't Tell'' policy, the

[[Page S4157]]

     Department of Defense announced a proactive review initiative 
     to identify veterans discharged due to their sexual 
     orientation and assess whether an upgrade in discharge is 
     warranted;
       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 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 the targeting of gay employees in the 
     Department of State by Senator Joseph McCarthy 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 allegations against gay people made 
     by Senator McCarthy, 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 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 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 through 
     the 1990s, including what historians have labeled as the 
     ``Lavender Scare'', LGBT individuals have never stopped 
     honorably serving the United States;
       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 uniformed 
     services, the Foreign Service, and the Federal civil service 
     the same acknowledgment and apology: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,

     SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

       The Senate--
       (1) acknowledges and condemns the discrimination against, 
     wrongful termination of, and exclusion from the Federal civil 
     service, the Foreign Service, and the uniformed services of 
     the thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 
     (referred to in this section as ``LGBT'') individuals who 
     were affected by the anti-LGBT policies of the Federal 
     Government;
       (2) on behalf of the United States, apologizes to--
       (A) the affected LGBT military service members, Foreign 
     Service members, veterans, and Federal civil service 
     employees; and
       (B) the families of those service members, veterans, and 
     Federal civil service employees; and
       (3) reaffirms the commitment of the Federal Government to 
     treat all military service members, Foreign Service members, 
     veterans, and Federal civil service employees and retirees, 
     including LGBT individuals, with equal respect and fairness.

     SEC. 2. DISCLAIMER.

       Nothing in this resolution--
       (1) authorizes or supports any claim against the United 
     States; or
       (2) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United 
     States.

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