Former US Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning created a whole new set of potential complications for the US military, asking to be known as a woman named Chelsea and to undergo hormone treatment, just one day after he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the biggest leak of classified material in US history.
Manning’s gender-identity struggle — a sense of being a woman trapped in a man’s body — was brought up by the defense at his court martial for giving more than 700,000 classified military and diplomatic documents, plus battlefield footage, to the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks. A photograph of the soldier in a blond wig and lipstick was submitted as evidence.
However, the latest twist, announced the morning after Manning was sentenced, surprised many and confronted the Pentagon with questions about where and how the army private is to be imprisoned.
Photo: AFP/ US ARMY
Manning disclosed the decision on Thursday in a statement provided to NBC’s Today show.
“As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible,” the statement read.
The statement asked people to use the feminine pronoun when referring to Manning. It was signed “Chelsea E. Manning” and included a handwritten signature.
The soldier’s attorney, David Coombs, told Today he hopes officials at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, accommodate Manning’s request for hormone treatment, which typically involves high doses of estrogen to promote breast development and other female characteristics.
George Wright, an army spokesman at the Pentagon, said the army does not provide such treatment or sex-reassignment surgery, but soldiers behind bars are given access to psychiatrists and other mental-health professionals.
A lawsuit could be in the offing. Coombs said he will do “everything in my power” to make sure Manning gets his way. And the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign and other advocates for gays, bisexuals and transgender people said Manning deserves the treatment.
A Federal Bureau of Prisons policy implemented last year requires federal prisons to develop treatment plans, including hormone treatment if necessary, for inmates diagnosed with gender-identity disorder. However, the bureau oversees only civilian prisons.
Manning’s case appeared to be the first time the therapy had come up for a military prisoner.
After sentencing, Manning was returned on Thursday to Fort Leavenworth.
Fort Leavenworth is an all-male prison. However, the staff have some leeway to separate soldiers from the other inmates based on the risk to themselves and others, prison spokesman George Marcec said.
Manning would not be allowed to wear a wig or bra, and would have to meet the military standard for hair, Marcec said.
In addition, Marcec said if Manning wants to go by Chelsea in the prison, a name change would have to be approved in court and then a petition submitted with the army to change its records.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese