Discharged LGBTQ+ service members among veterans who can reapply for federal benefits

Previously denied veterans can now reapply for federal benefits.

Starting Tuesday, the Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded access to benefits to thousands of vets who had been considered ineligible, including some kicked out for homosexuality.

David West is the Nevada County Veterans Services Officer and the president of the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers.

"We're actually introducing our veterans to secondary trauma because they're actually being told they could not get benefits because of their particular discharge," West said.

RELATED: President Biden to pardon veterans convicted under regulation used to keep LGBT members from serving

Officials said the rules apply to LGBTQ+ service members with certain "other than honorable" discharges related to their sexual identity.

Years ago, VA officials had previously amended rules to allow service members discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy to access benefits.

"Or getting caught holding hands in public and someone turning you in because of their own biases," West said. "Not cause you were doing anything wrong, not cause you couldn't carry your weight on the battlefield during training, just because of what made you happy."

Local Veteran Services Offices are preparing for former service members to come forward and appeal their previously denied benefits. And they're hoping to get the word out so more veterans know.

"Tell them sorry I didn't serve with you but now I'm here to serve for you and help you get the benefits that you're entitled to that you earned because you had the same intestinal fortitude that I had when I decided to join the Marine Corps," West said.

RELATED: LGBTQ+ veterans dishonorably discharged from military push to upgrade records

The updated regulations don't just affect the LGBTQ+ community.

The VA will review discharges due to bad behavior and will consider mental and physical health, and whether the individual faced discrimination or other challenges while serving.

"So if you were a minority, if you were a woman, or if you felt subjugated because maybe you were overweight or whatever it was, if you can tell a compelling story for the circumstances behind your honorable bad conduct or dishonorable discharge, the VA now has to listen and has to take that seriously," West said.

The VA says the exception provides a pathway to benefits and services to "deserving former service members."

Jorge Reyes Salinas, Communications Director with Equality California, says this move will benefit not only veterans but their families too.

"We're not just talking about their well-being and their personal lives, but the family's struggles, the family friends' struggles so it's not just someone's life that did not get the benefits," Reyes Salinas said.