Open Letter: Kate Bornstein to Chelsea Manning
8.26.2013
By Kate Bornstein
The trans pioneer reaches out to the recently sentenced whistleblower
http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2013/08/26/open-letter-kate-bornstein-chelsea-manningEditors' Note: We are aware that Chelsea Manning will not have access to this open letter right away. According to the Leavenworth prisoners' handbook, Manning will not have Internet access, so we will physically mail this to her (there's a whole procedure to follow if we want it to get to her, and we have to use her "Bradley" name and prison number, once it's assigned), so if anyone wants to also send the physical letter, please do.
Dear Chelsea,
Hello. My name is Kate Bornstein. I invite you to think of me as your whacky old aunt who loves you very much, and wants only the very best for you. I'm 65—a very old lady, indeed. I was born boy in 1948. I legally became girl in 1986 at the age of 38—I was 10 years older than you when I openly began my transition in 1983.
But enough about me. Let's get right to you, missy. I know—well, the whole web-connected world has access to the information—that you've lived through the horror of "extreme solitary confinement" for months on end. You are the surrvivor of over-the-top cruel and unusual punishment, the kind of cruel and unusual punishment you're likely to face over the next decade, honey, when you face active and potentially violent opposition to you simply being the girl you know you are.
