A group of LGBTQ+ veterans discharged based on their sexuality are suing the U.S. Department of Defense, saying the action is part of “ongoing discrimination” against their community and a violation of their constitutional rights.

It’s been more than a decade since the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy was rescinded. But thousands of people were discharged for violating that law, leaving them with little to no access to health benefits.

“What I am is a wounded solider,” said Gaston Roberge, an Army veteran from Manhattan. Roberge’s military service was part of his family’s fabric, but his time in the Army was cut short in the late 1980s.

“I’ve been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. I have scars,” Roberge said. “My dislocated, my broken clavicle and my hearing aids, all those injuries that happened during the assault.”

Injuries that for 36 years were largely put on the back burner.

“Without having visited a psychiatrist, I was diagnosed with personality disorder,” Roberge said.

That resulted in a psychiatric discharge, a status that changed the trajectory of his life.

“We’re from an era when it’s embarrassing to openly say, 'I’m gay,' or openly say, 'I have a discharge paper that says I have a personality disorder,'” Roberge said. “That’s a stain for me as a human being. It’s stopped me from many things.”

While Roberge’s situation is only similar, he’s elated to hear about a lawsuit filed in California Tuesday which calls on the DOD to grant a number of LGBTQ+ veterans with honorable discharges and to remove biased language from their service records.

“Not being able to live our lives with a discharge other than honorable,” Roberge said. “I don’t think people understand the weight that it has.”

The lawsuit argues thousands of veterans discharged for violating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell have been deprived of various benefits, including VA loan programs, college tuition assistance, health care and jobs.

“We have to endure,” said Arron Terry, an Air Force veteran and Roberge’s husband.

Terry said it’s efforts like these that will hopefully lead to change.

“If we take three steps forward, it may be two steps back,” he said. “But we still have to go forward.”

Spectrum News 1 reached out to the DOD for comment on the lawsuit, but it does not comment on pending litigation.

Although Roberge’s discharge status remains unchanged, he is seeing a doctor for the physical pain associated with the physical injures. But it took him more than 30 years to find the courage to do so.