Bradley Manning: I want to live as a woman

[Triana]

Bradley Manning, the Army private sentenced to military prison for leaking classified documents, revealed he intends to live out the remainder of his life as a woman.

“I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,” the Army private wrote in a statement read on TODAY Thursday. “Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition.”

Manning, 25, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday after having been found guilty of 20 charges ranging from espionage to theft for leaking more than 700,000 documents to the WikiLeaks website while working in Iraq in 2010.

Click here to read Manning's full statement

“I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility),” he continued in the statement. “I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.”

THE REST:

http://www.today.com/news/bradley-manning-i-want-live-woman-6C10974915

[annabanana]

1. Chelsea has a hard road ahead, I fear.

But a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of courage.

[boston bean]

4. get lost.

[Le Taz Hot]

6. How is being transgendered "screwed up?"

I think you took a wrong turn somewhere.

[maddezmom]

8. What sort of thing?

[MineralMan]

10. Not cool at all, MrSlayer.

Truly.

[MrSlayer]

29. Apologies.

I indulge in dark humor but I usually refrain from posting it here.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. implying prison rape is someone transitioning is transphobic and transmisogyny.

also just straight up gross.

literally disgusting.

[MineralMan]

14. A jury just voted 3-3 to leave your post.

That, however, does not prevent you from self-deleting your ugly comment and implication.

[steve2470]

16. agreed nt

[Little Star]

31. I just re-alerted and checked TOS so MIRT can take a look.

[MrSlayer]

33. I should have known better.

This is not the place for that kind of humor. I usually refrain. Apologies.

[MineralMan]

35. Yes. It wasn't funny, anyhow.

It's good that you self-deleted. Humor that isn't funny has a way of not being funny.

[MrSlayer]

43. It's all subjective isn't it?

The guys at work thought it was a good line. But again, I should have known how it would go over here.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

42. mostly because neither rape, nor homophobia, nor transphobia, nor trans-misogyny are funny

and you hit all of these with your 'joke'

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Wow

Do your reputation here a favor and delete that post. It's sad that you thought it, and poor judgment to post it.

[William769]

21. Your bigotry is showing.

You may get away with it for awhile & you may even be smug about it, but this shit always gets rooted out.

Just saying.

[Little Star]

32. I just re-alerted and checked TOS so MIRT can take a look...

Frigging Juries!

[William769]

36. Unfortunately it will not go to MIRT.

Once alerted & left to stand the only one's to get it will be the Administrators.

But thanks for being attentive & trying to help root out this bullshit.

[Little Star]

37. Oh, I didn't know that. Well maybe the Admins will act on this. Fingers crossed....

It is well worth the try, imho.

[dionysus]

22. that post is just wrong.

[Dreamer Tatum]

25. I KNEW that was coming. nt

[steve2470]

5. I wish Chelsea all the best

She's very brave to come out, especially in her situation.

[LiberalLoner]

7. +1

[Lee-Lee]

9. I wonder how accommodating

The military correctional system will be?

I suspect not very. She will likely end up kept in solitary confinent to protect her from the male inmates, because they would never put "him" in with the females.

[MineralMan]

13. I don't imagine they'll facilitate it.

I'm afraid that the hormone treatments, and the rest, will have to wait until Manning's release. The military justice system tends to take people as they appear to be and will resist providing any treatment.

[Babel_17]

17. Hmm, so grudge beatings/rapes might be getting blocked?

In general US prisons there are men who think of themselves as being very patriotic/nationalistic. I doubt military prisons have a lower %. Without diligent security Manning might face grudge beatings and possibly even rapes.

Apologies to those running Fort Leavenworth if my concern isn't plausible. I doubt that they tolerate rape and being the military they have fewer enforcement issues that those of civilian prisons.

If the uproar over Manning's statement means she'll be under closer watch for the first year or so then that might be all to the good. Solitary confinement can be devastating but Manning has a good idea of what it will mean.

[telclaven]

23. Manning is probably in the safest place for him to be

Leavenworth's Disciplinary Barracks is a much safer and better prison than any Federal or State facility. He won't get any hormone treatment, however.

[Babel_17]

39. I see, that's good to know, thank you (nt)

[mn9driver]

30. Military prisons are not at all like civilian prisons.

Chelsea will be safe. She will have access to a wide range of counseling. She will not, however, be able to dress as a woman or receive hormone treatments. And I doubt very much that the prison staff will address her as anything other than Private Manning.

If she is assaulted or abused while she is there, the perpetrators WILL be identified and WILL face serious consequences. Everyone there knows this, which is why it won't happen.

[Babel_17]

40. Prison is prison but I'm glad Manning will have that peace of mind (nt)

[one_voice]

11. I wish her all the best...

Last edited Thu Aug 22, 2013, 01:16 PM - Edit history (1)

you get one life to life. You should live it how you want; being happy; and being exactly WHO you are. She's a brave person!

Good Luck Chelsea.

**if I should have used her/she rather than him/he it was a mistake not an intentional slight. I'm not sure what's proper at this point. So apologies in advance if it should have been her/she not him/he.


Edited to use the correct pronoun I missed the request upon first reading.

[Luminous Animal]

19. “I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun"

That is what is proper.

[one_voice]

41. I completely missed

that. I don't know how, but I did.

Thank you for pointing that out. As I said, there was no intentional slight.

[Adrahil]

18. Good luck to this kid...

I really feel sorry for him/her. He is struggling with his gender identity in a world that is still not terribly friendly to such things. That will be tough to deal with in prison, convicted of espionage.

[Catherina]

20. The prison Chelsea is going to doesn't provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery

....

Before his detection, he confided in Internet chats with ex-hacker Adrian Lamo, "i wouldn't mind going to prison for the rest of my life, or being executed so much, if it wasn't for the possibility of having pictures of me... plastered all over the world press... as (a) boy."

...

Ft. Leavenworth spokeswoman Kimberly Lewis told Courthouse News that treatment for transgender inmates does not extend beyond psychiatric care.
"All inmates are considered soldiers and are treated as such with access to mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist, psychologist, social workers and behavioral science noncommissioned officers with experience in addressing the needs of military personnel in pre- and post-trial confinement," Lewis said in an email. "The Army does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender identity disorder."

A growing number of federal judges have ruled that rejecting such treatment for transgender prisoners constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

...

A 2009 study of California prisoners found that 59 percent of male-to-female transgender prisoners have been sexually assaulted in all-male prisons, and a shocking zero percent trusted their guards to protect them.
The brochure for U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth indicates that 57 percent of the prisoners there were confined for sex-related offenses in 2011. The prison keeps no demographics on their number of transgender detainees.

...

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/08/20/60451.htm

Coombs said he would fight to make sure Chelsea's rights are respected. He'll have to plead, fight with the DOJ which doesn't have such a great record on this issue. CeCe McDonald is a transgender Black female who despite every plea from her attorney, from supporters, was placed in St. Cloud, a men's Correctional Facility of the Minnesota state prisons and did a short stint at Stillwater, also a male facility. The Minnesota DOC ruled that she didn't qualify to be placed in a woman's facility.

In recently released federal standards on the elimination of sexual abuse in prisons, the Department of Justice notes that transgender people should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to place them where they will be in the least danger (not solely based on genitals). Moreover, the DOJ guidelines seek to minimize the use of solitary confinement for the alleged protection of transgender prisoners. These standards apply to state prisons that receive federal funding.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11871820

LGBT PEOPLE AND THE PRISON RAPE ELIMINATION ACT

Congress unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003. After nearly a decade of study and review, the U.S. Department of Justice issued final regulations to implement PREA in May 2012.

(Read about it at link, so far it's mostly lip service)

http://transequality.org/Resources/PREA_July2012.pdf

If she doesn't get a pardon, we have another fight ahead of us for at least this basic respect.

[Whisp]

24. Best of luck, Chelsea.

I saw a pic posted of her here with make up and a wig and she looked great!

To those that will mock her and make fun of her, like the Fox Turds and various varieties, Fuck them all.

[polichick]

26. My heart aches for this young patriot.

[Little Star]

34. +1

[TDale313]

27. She's an incredibly brave and strong person.

I wish her all the best in an incredibly tough situation.

[bravenak]

28. My heart goes out to this young lady and we should all be supportive.

I hope she doesn't spend the full 35 yrs in prison. I hope she gets a pardon.

[Little Star]

38. .