Pentagon OKs Manning Transfer for Gender Treatment.

[elleng]

Source: nyt/ap

In an unprecedented move, the Pentagon is trying to transfer convicted national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so she can get treatment for her gender disorder, defense officials said.

Manning, formerly named Bradley, was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The soldier has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman.

The request was the first ever made by a transgender military inmate and set up a dilemma for the Defense Department: How to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy. Transgenders are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and the Defense Department does not provide such treatment, but Manning can't be discharged from the service while serving his 35-year prison sentence. Some officials have said privately that keeping the soldier in a military prison and unable to have treatment could amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last month gave the Army approval to try to work out a transfer plan with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which does provide such treatment, two Pentagon officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/05/14/us/politics/ap-us-wikileaks-manning-gender-treatment.html?hp

[ForgoTheConsequence]

1. Good news.

Chelsea shouldn't be in prison in the first place, but this a win.

[Cha]

2. Thanks elleng~

[FreepFryer]

3. interesting pronoun inconsistencies in the text (her gender/his sentence). (n/t)

[merrily]

4. Excellent.

[MADem]

5. The environment where she is right now is actually a far safer one than a federal facility.

The whole "cruel and unusual" element does enter into play, though, so a transfer is probably in her best interests, given the medical diagnosis and recommended treatment.

The plan the military was considering has not been publicly released, but Manning said in the complaint that she had specifically asked that the treatment "plan consider ... three types of treatment."

Those were "real life experience" — a regimen in which the person tries dressing and living as the sex they want to transition to (something not possible in the Leavenworth men's facility); hormone therapy, which changes some physical traits such as breast and hair growth; and sex reassignnment surgery. Manning has not been specific about possible surgery, but experts in transgender health say it can include any of a large number of procedures such as chest reconstruction, genital reconstruction and plastic surgery such as facial reconstruction.

Hagel said Sunday that the prohibition on transgender individuals serving in the armed forces "continually should be reviewed." He didn't indicate whether he believes the policy should be overturned but said "every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it." A transgender individual is someone who has acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or presents himself or herself in a way that does not correspond with that person's sex at birth.

Can anyone imagine Donald Rumsfeld acceding to any requests of this nature? I know I can't.

[progressoid]

6. Wow, that's surprising.

[seveneyes]

7. Will Manning be moved to a female prison?

I didn't see anything mentioned about relocation.