In tonight's cover story,
military veterans receive a number of
benefits following their time of service.
This all includes things like
money for education and home loans.
Well, one Sacramento veteran says that
he was recently denied a VA home loan,
and he says the result of simply being gay.
I spoke with him about his story.
Names Alejandro brambila.
I am a elementary school teacher,
teach 4th grade Yellae
Brambila entered the
military at the age of 19.
I was in the Coast Guard.
I served in South Carolina and I was
on the Coast Guard cutter Dallas.
I was very religious and had a
girlfriend and so at the time I
really did not think that I was gay.
I knew something was abnormal
and I remember praying about
like not wanting to be
gay. He says slowly though,
he began to figure it out.
I think a little bit more.
Learning about myself becoming a little
bit more flamboyant and comfortable
and so eventually I told that I was gay
and this was don't ask, don't
tell it was. Yeah,
don't ask, don't tell was a federal
policy adopted in 1994 that banned
openly homosexuals and bisexuals
from serving in the military.
Brambila was discharged from the
military after nine months of service,
but I was separated honorably
for on my discharge paper.
It says homosexual admission,
don't ask, don't tell was eliminated in 2011.
Fast forward to January 2022 when Brambila
says he found his dream home in Sacramento.
It was exactly what he wanted.
He just needed his home loan,
which he assumed he'd get through the VA.
So after speaking to a specific firm,
I gave them my DD214 which
has honorable discharge.
It shows the reason why I was separated.
Everything on there.
They immediately assumed that
I would qualify as I did,
'cause I received my GI Bill.
However, at the time of the appraisal
he received a letter from the VA
saying they needed more information,
and so I called the VA and I
asked them what information they
needed and they said they needed
one extra form that tells them my
narrative reason for separation.
And I shared with them.
Well, OK, it says homosexual admission.
They said I don't qualify and the guy
literally hung up at the VA office.
You said it felt like you were being
discriminated against all over again.
Yeah, yeah, and I think.
Well, what it did is it brought me
back to the time that I was in 2009.
I was 19. I was like still young.
You know I was exploring the
world and immediately I was told
that something was wrong with me.
According to the VA's website,
veterans normally need two years
of service to qualify or less if
discharged for certain reasons.
If you're discharged with
a certain narrative reason
for separation, you qualify.
Homosexual admission is not there yet.
What I'm fighting for is
it for it to be there.
For them to recognize that
that is a reason why people,
they should receive their
benefits for being discriminated
upon while in the military,
brambila says, the people who were
discharged prior to the end of don't ask,
don't tell, have been forgotten about.
About 14,000 service members in total
were discharged because of that policy,
he says. Now, even people at the
VA are encouraging him to fight.
Even I talked to this woman today
to give me a new denial letter.
And so she said, you need to fight this
issue and she literally said you need to
take this up with your Congress person.
She said because people have not screamed
loud enough for this to be overturned.
So that's what Brambila is doing.
He says it's his students that keep him going
and I told him what was happening and and
then the whole conversation ended up in
the classroom turning to civil rights.
And if I shut down in that
moment and said I'm done,
then it would have been me.
Not being an actual advocate
for what I believe in.
Now we reached out to the VA for comment,
but we did not receive one yet.
The good news is, Alejandro says
that another veteran at mortgage,
right, was able to get him an
FHA home loan to save his home,
and through it was it.
Though it was a more expensive home loan.
Alejandro just received the
keys to his home yesterday,
but he says he's not giving up his fight.