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An Other-Than-Honorable Discharge for Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity — Rewritten for Virginia Purposes

Va. Code § 2.2-2001.6 lets a person separated with an other than honorable discharge due solely to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression petition the Department of Veterans Services to have the discharge treated as honorable. A successful petitioner gets the same rights, privileges and benefits under state law and local ordinances as any other honorably discharged veteran.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Va. Code § 2.2-2001.6 lets a person separated with an other than honorable discharge due solely to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression petition the Department of Veterans Services to have the discharge treated as honorable. A successful petitioner gets the same rights, privileges and benefits under state law and local ordinances as any other honorably discharged veteran.

What it's worth: State and local veteran status restored — the same rights, privileges and benefits as any other honorably discharged veteran

  • The section reaches a person separated from active military, naval, or air service with an other than honorable discharge "due solely to such person's sexual orientation or gender identity or expression". The word "solely" is the test.
  • A person whose discharge status is modified under the section "shall be eligible for the same rights, privileges, and benefits authorized by state law and local ordinances as any other veteran who was honorably discharged".
  • The petition is made to the Department of Veterans Services.
  • This changes state and local eligibility. It is not a federal discharge upgrade and the section does not purport to alter the character of service recorded by the armed forces.
  • Enacted 2020, c. 1172, originally codified as § 2.2-2001.5 before renumbering.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served, which is what this route is written around.
  • A discharge that is not under honorable conditions is exactly what this section is about.
  • Your home is in Virginia.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Read the word "solely" first. The section reaches a discharge given due solely to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Where the separation record also carries an unrelated ground, that is the question the petition will turn on.
  2. 2Gather the separation packet, not just the DD Form 214. The narrative reason for separation and the separation authority are what show the ground.
  3. 3Petition the Department of Veterans Services. The section names the Department as the body the petition goes to.
  4. 4Understand exactly what you win. Success makes you eligible for the same rights, privileges and benefits authorised by state law and local ordinances as any other honorably discharged veteran — the Virginia property tax exemptions, the state hiring preference, the tuition routes, the licences.
  5. 5Do not stop pursuing a federal upgrade if you want federal benefits. This section speaks to state law and local ordinances, and no federal effect is claimed in its text.
  6. 6Take the Department’s determination with you. Local commissioners of the revenue and licensing boards will be applying state law to a discharge they have not seen reclassified before.
Form
Petition to the Department of Veterans Services
File with
Virginia Department of Veterans Services
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis is not a discharge upgrade. The federal character of service is untouched. What changes is how Virginia and its localities treat you — which is the difference between being refused the disabled veteran property tax exemption and being granted it.
Worth knowingThe section says "due solely". A separation record naming a second, unrelated ground is the hard case, and it is the case the petition process exists to decide. That is a reason to petition, not a reason not to.
Known gapNo petition form, evidentiary standard, appeal route or processing time is named in the section, and no departmental procedure was read this session.

Sources

Why only one source type: The section creates the petition, names the body it goes to and states its whole effect; dvs.virginia.gov, which would carry the Department’s procedure, has refused retrieval in this and prior sessions, and the operating detail is recorded as a candidate rather than guessed at.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.