Army Releases Photo of Wikileaker Bradley Manning in Wig and Makeup

[Beth Andrea]

I can't help but wonder if its a direct result of Manning's actions. Its still an ongoing issue and the Army's butt is still stinging for its screw-up.  Though I am curious, if you dont mind my asking, if you are intent on finishing your service, why come out in the first place to a military therapist? Why not wait?

Sometimes GID becomes so severe that one cannot wait, regardless of the consequences.

I would say the USG is trying to smear Manning, so he becomes a "folk hero" only to a handful of people...to many Americans, being TG is right next to being a child molester. It has no relevance to the espionage case.

[skin]

I can't help but wonder if its a direct result of Manning's actions. Its still an ongoing issue and the Army's butt is still stinging for its screw-up.  Though I am curious, if you dont mind my asking, if you are intent on finishing your service, why come out in the first place to a military therapist? Why not wait?

I was going through a rough couple of months.  Other things were contributing to it, not just feelings of dysphoria.  I went to Military OneSource for counseling to get me out of the funk.  I went to them because it was supposed to be confidential and I was trying to get help in time for it not to affect my career.  The counselor felt I sounded too hopeless and was a threat to myself and called the emergency room of the nearby Army hospital.  I got discharged within like 90 minutes, but my command found out and I got removed from my sub for 30 days so I could be evaluated.  At my first appointment with a Navy therapist, I guess I thought if I was stuck there I might as well use it and be honest.  I knew about the regulation that GID is supposed to be disqualifying, but I guess I kind of figured it would be like DADT was its last couple years of existence and not enforced, especially since I tried to make it clear the whole time that I wanted to stay in and could wait until my enlistment was up.  Obviously, I thought wrong and have about three months left before they send me home.   

[Keaira]

I would be almost certain that the Manning incident got you out, double time instead of finishing your service out. 3 months really isnt very long, but apparently they thought it was too long.

[skin]

No, now I will be out in three months.  They're giving me time to see a therapist before the give me the boot.  I would have had another two years left otherwise.

[Keaira]

Oh, okay. I misread. Sorry

[skin]

No worries

[Jamie D]

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/manning-lamo-logs/

I think the Lamo Chat logs were sufficient in proving his conviction in his beliefs.  I think there was no reason to reveal the photo and it shouldn't have been used, but it's about defaming him and preventing him from becoming an iconoclastic idol.

My understanding is the the exhibits from the trial were released subsequent to a "Freedom of Information Act" request by the media.

[Shantel]

It's unfortunate that Manning did what she did, she was in a position that required trust and she failed miserably. Given the fact that she's going to do years in Federal prison at Leavenworth, she was probably trying to ensure that since she looks pretty effeminate that she may have considered how much better her lot would be in the women's facility as opposed to exposure in the showers to a lot of sex deprived males. Unfortunately for Chelsea, the military won't buy into it. Life in the real world can be extremely harsh!

[TiaNadiezja]

I don't think we get to question Miss Manning's gender identity, any more than she gets to question ours.  Each person knows their own better than anyone else does, and I'm really amazed with the raw amount of misgendering happening in this thread.

It's going to be rough for her, in prison - rougher still given the nature of her crimes, and, given that the military doesn't recognize her gender identity and is tossing her into a men's prison, even tougher.  I believe she ought to be in prison - if the only person you can find to publish your leak is Julian Assange, you likely ought to rethink your leak; Assange is fairly awful and his belief that government secrets are by nature a bad thing is immensely problematic.  However, she ought to be in a prison where she can be safe from gender-related violence.

[ChelseaAnn]

You know, despite Manning's actions, crimes, etc. if she is truly trans, we should take this as an opportunity. Yes, we are in bad light for this. But, we are still getting light. I think we can at least be thankful for that. Perhaps with Manning being a national headline, people will start to try and understand what transgender really is, and hopefully not make the assumption that all of us are bad.
And I also think we need to be open to Manning (there's another topic somewhere for that). We've all done things we aren't proud of, but we need to support each other's journeys despite that. I don't think that's too much to ask for Manning.

[Shantel]

Manning initially came out as a gay man, I buy that and it's unfortunate that she was allowed access to top secret information because she wouldn't have been considered for that type of job in the Army or any similar organization fifty years ago because gays have historically been easily compromised by spies due to their sexual orientation and private proclivities. But because we have a soft and fuzzy leadership in the Pentagon they allowed it to happen and share in the moral responsibility in the event any harm comes to the country as a result of the massive leaks.

My gut feeling is that Chelsea is a manipulative type and is still trying to game the system by claiming to be trans in an effort to minimize her level of physical abuse while locked up in Leavenworth, after all there are murderers in there on life sentences with nothing to lose who are still very patriotic and wouldn't think twice given the chance to harm her. Not everyone who claims to be transgender is, we all know that! I don't feel sorry for her, she made a stupid choice and obviously didn't count the cost. She is a very immature individual!

[LordKAT]

Many people come out as gay first and many hide being trans while in the military. I see no reason to believe Manning to be any different.

[Amy The Bookworm]

I've been giving this some thought the last few days. My feelings about Chelsea Manning range from pity to respect to anger and more and back again. I'm very conflicted as to if I see her as a hero or traitor to the United States. I suspect it's something history will have to decide.

But the more I think about it, the more I think we should ... maybe not support what she did, but support her transition. I think she's legitimately transgender. This isn't something that came up right after the trial, as it was something used against her in her trial. Regardless of what one thinks of her, THAT is wrong and unjust no matter how one slices it.

We should support her transition not because we care one way or the other about what she did ... but because it may allow us to reach the public with a massive education campaign about what it is we face in every day life and what people can do to help us (Which is mostly to work toward better laws giving us the same rights and protections as others and just letting us live our lives), and we can try to improve things for those of us who are incarcerated.

I've read up on her for a while ... regardless of if one sees her as hero or villain, it's obvious that she is a very troubled individual. So by no means am I saying that we should consider her to be the ideal poster child of the trans community. But we may be able to use her situation to help us instead of letting it become a media smear campaign against her and us.

If we see a story where the news outlet miss genders her, we should write them and politely correct them. If some of us have journalistic experience, maybe we should write some opinion piece articles about what being trans is and send it out to local media outlets.

I just ... I want to think something good can come out of this.

[Shantel]

Good thoughts on that Amy, just the same it isn't going to happen while she's in Leavenworth and still under military control. So I'll waste no further words on the subject and rather be as uplifting as possible to those here that need a little brotherly and sisterly TLC from the rest of us.

[Shana A]

 

A reminder, since Chelsea Manning has publicly expressed her preference for female pronouns and new name, to refer to her with male pronouns is misgendering and thus a violation of TOS.

News Admin

[Shantel]

A reminder, since Chelsea Manning has publicly expressed her preference for female pronouns and new name, to refer to her with male pronouns is misgendering and thus a violation of TOS.

News Admin

Hi Shana,
      I fixed my faux pax on my Bradley Manning posts, it was insensitive of me, but I was going off the fact that the Military is refusing to allow her to transition while under their control and will continue to refer to her as Bradley and my understanding of the military justice system's Uniform Code of Military Justice makes it clear that those in uniform have absolutely no constitutional rights. Personally I think she is attempting to game the system and is a totally confused mess, I feel sorry for her parents and loved ones. I will recuse myself from any further posting on this particular thread because of my jaded opinion. ~Shan~

[Shana A]

Hi Shana,
      I fixed my faux pax on my Bradley Manning posts, it was insensitive of me, but I was going off the fact that the Military is refusing to allow her to transition while under their control and will continue to refer to her as Bradley and my understanding of the military justice system's Uniform Code of Military Justice makes it clear that those in uniform have absolutely no constitutional rights. Personally I think she is attempting to game the system and is a totally confused mess, I feel sorry for her parents and loved ones. I will recuse myself from any further posting on this particular thread because of my jaded opinion. ~Shan~

Thanks for fixing that, Shan!

I have no problem with you, or anyone else, expressing differing opinions about Chelsea Manning, or how her case affects and overlaps military or trans issues. We're a truly diverse community here!

Shana

[Nygeel]

Can the original post be edited to change the name both in the title and in the post itself?

[Amelia Pond]

Can the original post be edited to change the name both in the title and in the post itself?

Only if the original article is changed. Otherwise we have to post it as it is. The article came out before she decided to officially become Chelsea.

Amy

[Nygeel]

Only if the original article is changed. Otherwise we have to post it as it is. The article came out before she decided to officially become Chelsea.

Amy

I kinda disagree on that one. The trans community has known about PFC Manning identifying as a woman since maybe 2010/2011 (ish). I'd wager that's around when she "decided" on the name Chelsea. The original post COULD be edited to be ambiguous (I'm not talking about the article, but the content of the original post) to say "PFC Manning" instead...if you've read the articles, you'd see how much she didn't want pictures and other info of her pre-transition self out in the public.