Convicted WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning will begin gender transition while serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking classified government documents, now that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved her request to receive treatment while in custody.
The military has a strict ban on transgender men and women serving, and along with it, a ban on any medical services related to transgender issues. Earlier this year, Manning was denied a request by the Bureau of Prisons to transfer from the all-male military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas to a civilian prison, where she could receive better treatment for what has been diagnosed as gender dysphoria.
The AP reports that Manning’s approved treatment will be “rudimentary,” and will likely only consist of allowing her to wear female undergarments and “possibly” include hormone treatments.
According to the AP, Manning requested a three-tier treatment plan:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
She asked that a treatment plan consider three types of measures: “real life experience,” a regimen in which the person tries dressing and living in the new gender; hormone therapy, which changes some physical traits such as breast and hair growth; and sex reassignment surgery. Manning has not publicly said whether she wants surgery, and the proposed plan was not released.
Although it doesn’t sound like the military is really concerned about giving Manning the proper treatment, her attorney David Coombs is hopeful. “It has been almost a year since we first filed our request for adequate medical care,” he told the AP. “I am hopeful that when the Army says it will start a ‘rudimentary level’ of treatment that this means hormone replacement therapy.”
The Bureau of Prisons’ refusal to accept Manning’s transfer out of the military prison has more or less forced the military to deal with the situation (and hopefully develop better and more inclusive policies regarding trans service members). They have not yet announced when Manning’s gender transition plan will begin.
PJBFan
I support Ms. Manning’s transition. I suggest it be done off US Soil, however, in the country where the second largest number of these surgeries is done, and whilst there, we revoke her citizenship, and let her become a citizen of Iran.
I support out transgender soldiers. I am wholly opposed, however, to letting this transwoman transition on my dime.
dtf2013
Waste of tax dollar money!
MarionPaige
You have to understand the hysteria that already existed in the US Military about gay men being security risks (because of the infamous gang of gay spies in the UK) to understand just how much this fucking dip shit Bradley Manning has set all gay people in the military back. And then there was the “campaign” by White Queens who have never been close to anything male oriented (yet alone anything military) that convinced a lot of people to be openly gay in the military when it is pretty much guaranteed that there is likely to be only so far these people will ever go up the security clearance ladder. I assume that if someone in the military and you are making a career of the the military that you want to advance as far as possible. Yet, one has to wonder how many openly gay men have security clearances above secret.
Lefty
Am I the only one who is furious at Chelsea Manning for doing the ‘honorable’ thing and revealing US soldiers murdering innocent people, including children, thus making it harder for gay people who also want to join in with the killing of innocent foreigners and wearing hot uniforms and stuff?
Literally shaking with rage as I type!
PS – only two of the ‘Cambridge Five’ (“the infamous gang of gay spies in the UK”) were in fact gay. But who cares about facts???
MarionPaige
Had Manning been drafted into the military against his will, an argument could be made for the silly like Bitch wetting his pretty pink panties on discovering exactly what it is that the military does. Quentin Tarantino has this dialogue in the movie Inglorious Basterds between a French Female (who’s parents were killed by the Nazi) and a German War hero. The French Woman (who is Jewish) notices that the German guy is getting a lot of attention from other german officers like he is a celebrity and she asks: “Are You Somebody’s Son?”. The german war hero replies by saying: “I think all German Soldiers are some body’s sons.” The point, I think, even the Nazi were innocent children to somebody.
Lefty
@MarionPaige: This is real life, dear. Not a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Lefty
The point, I think, even the Nazi were innocent children to somebody.
That’s hardly a profound point, is it? And it doesn’t make them any less guilty of the crimes they committed in adulthood.
Unless you’re suggesting that all kids could potentially end up doing evil things so killing children is some kind of pre-emptive strike.
Sorry I didn’t realise you were trying to make the anti-Chelsea Manning people look stupid. As you were…
E T
Just because somebody is popularly agreed to be called a criminal, does not mean they don’t deserve basic human dignity. The word “criminal” can’t be used as a buzz word to mean, “Punish them as severely as you please; out of sight, out of mind.” Remember, gay people are still “criminals” in some areas of the world. I for one do NOT want something as simple as the popular agreement that I am a criminal to be enough to warrant the absolute disregard of my dignity. Gender is a huge part of a person’s identity. It matters. Our taxes can provide dignity. Not her fault your wage is low – that would be the conservative business tactics that also discriminate against all LGBT people, and starve out the working class.
inbama
It’s ridiculous to give a security clearance to someone who believes they’re another person.