Morano asks about discharge upgrade cases pending and successful
Morano asks about the 38 LGBTQ+ veterans who sought discharge upgrade assistance in FY26. Nicole reports about 20 cases remain pending and 8 discharge upgrades were completed in the last two fiscal years.
Just going back to your testimony for a moment, and then I have a couple of other things following up on Councilmember Wong's questions.
You stated that 38 LGBTQ plus veterans sought assistance through the discharge upgrade program in fiscal year 26.
Of those 38 veterans, how many cases remain pending?
Thank you for the question, Chair.
So, yes, in fiscal year 26, we have had 38 LGBTQ plus veterans work with our partners, whether that be at VAP or NILAG for discharge upgrades.
Currently, what we are seeing is that there are about 20 that are still pending.
That for us can mean a range of things, whether information is still being gathered, whether it's further along in the process.
But that is something we can follow up more on the intricacies with.
Do we know at this point how many resulted in successful discharge upgrades?
Yes.
So in the last fiscal, I think in the last two fiscal years, we have seen eight discharge upgrades.
How many veterans, maybe the answer is the same, regained VA benefits as a result of that?
That would be a little bit different just because there's the difference between a discharge upgrade being totally changed versus the VA characterization of upgrade, which means that you're still then entitled to VA benefits even if your discharge hasn't fully been updated.