More than 800 military veterans receive honorable discharges from Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" records review

More than 800 veterans who were kicked out of the military for their sexual orientation under a policy that banned gays and lesbians from openly serving, known as "don't ask, don't tell," will receive honorable discharges, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin announced Tuesday. 

"Under President Biden's leadership, the Department of Defense has taken extraordinary steps to redress the harms done by "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and other policies on these former Service members," Austin said in a statement.

The news comes a little more than a year after proactively reviewing the records of LGBTQ+ veterans who might be eligible for an honorable discharge but had not yet applied for one. The 800+ veterans receiving this relief will see their discharge papers – known as a DD-214 – automatically change to "honorable" without the burden of having to go through the military's formal process of applying for a discharge upgrade.