I'm grateful for Chelsea that it's 2013 and not 1983 when my cousin killed himself during his transition because society was so vicious at the time.
I understand your concerns which I think come more from a fear she'll be attacked but every day she puts this off is intense psychological torture with a high risk of depression and a higher risk of suicide. The timing is only *bad* because it makes her more vulnerable to abuse in a homophobic military environment but where it's *good* is IF they allow her hormone therapy, it will help her be non-depressive and stay balanced.
If Chelsea were in a Federal Prison, she'd be better off because DOJ finally got around to writing some vague legislation for the Prison Rape Elimination Act of Congress passed 10 years ago. It vaguely states that, in order to eliminate prison rape, prison officials need to evaluate each transgender prisoner on a case by case basis and house them appropriately (to reduce prison rape). Their anatomy, pre or post op, and where they are in the transition have nothing to do with it, just their vulnerability to abuse and where they'd be safest. Unfortunately, this act doesn't extend to military prisons.
There's already a very determined and dedicated network in place to push the archaic military prison system for her.
The military has already flat out stated they won't accommodate this, much less hormone therapy and surgery, but they'll provide psychological and psychiatric counseling.
Thankfully her attorney, the LGBTQ network that has been supporting her since the beginning and the ACLU are on it.
Here is what the ACLU had to say this morning. It's only a brief statement for now but expect more.
ACLU statement on Chelsea Manning
Submitted by sosadmin on Thu, 08/22/2013 - 12:33
The following can be attributed to Chase Strangio, staff attorney with the ACLU's Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project:
In response to Chelsea Manning's disclosure that she is female, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and will be seeking hormone therapy as a part of her transition during her incarceration, public statements by military officials that the Army does not provide hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria raise serious constitutional concerns. Gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition in which a person's gender identify does not correspond to his or her assigned sex at birth, and hormone therapy is part of the accepted standards of care for this condition. Without the necessary treatment, gender dysphoria can cause severe psychological distress, including anxiety and suicide. When the government holds individuals in its custody, it must provide them with medically necessary care.
The official policy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and most state agencies is to provide medically necessary care for the treatment of gender dysphoria, and courts have consistently found that denying such care to prisoners based on blanket exclusions violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
http://www.privacysos.org/node/1157The ACLU, her attorney and her LGBTQ network are already gearing up for a fight because gender reassignment surgery is
now available to transgender inmates who did not begin treatment prior to entering federal custody (<<the link is to the prison memo).
Gender reassignment surgery, along with hormones and specialized mental health counseling is now available to transgender inmates who did not begin treatment prior to entering federal custody, The Associated Press reports.
The decision is based on new rules adopted by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons as part of a court settlement for inmate Vanessa Adams, formerly Nicholas Adams, who was diagnosed with gender identity disorder in 2005, and, after being denied treatment, tried to castrate herself with a razor and attempted to and ultimately succeeded in amputating her penis.
A May 31 memo issued to wardens at the nation's 116 federal prisons and made public by gay rights groups states: "current, accepted standards of care" will be applied to inmates who believe they are the wrong gender.
Under the bureau's previous policy, issued in 2005, only federal inmates with a preexisting diagnosis were eligible for transgender-related care, which was limited to treatments that would maintain them "only at the level of change which existed when they were incarcerated."
"The (new) treatment plan may include elements or services that were, or were not, provided prior to incarceration, including, but not limited to: those elements of real life experience consistent with the prison environment, hormone therapy and counseling," the memo from bureau medical director Newton Kendig states.
http://www.thirdage.com/news/surgery-while-in-prison-now-an-option-for-transgender-inmates_10-04-2011Here's a press release from GLAD about the Sept 2011
policy change.
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