On Jan. 3, the United States reached a settlement in Farrell v. Department of Defense, a class action lawsuit filed in 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs in Farrell alleged that the Department of Defense’s files for military veterans discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and earlier policies barring lesbian, gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military violate the Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process.