Bradley Manning: I want to live as a woman


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Bradley Manning: I want to live as a woman

 

Bradley Manning, the Army private sentenced to military prison for leaking classified documents, revealed he intends to live out the remainder of his life as a woman.

 

?I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,? the Army private wrote in a statement read on TODAY Thursday by his attorney. ?Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition.?

 

Manning, 25, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday after having been found guilty of 20 charges ranging from espionage to theft for leaking more than 700,000 documents to the WikiLeaks website while working in Iraq in 2010.

 

?I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility),? he continued in the statement. ?I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.?

 

Manning signed the letter ?Chelsea E. Manning.?

 

During his trial, Manning?s defense team suggested his struggles with gender identity as a gay soldier were a factor in his decision to leak. His attorneys presented an email to a former supervisor from April 2010 in which he said he was transgender and joined the Army to ?get rid of it.? The email, which had the subject line ?My Problem,? also included a photo of Manning in which he is wearing a blonde wig and lipstick. During Manning?s nine-month detainment at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., following his arrest in 2010, he sent two letters to his counselor using the name ?Breanna,?? Master Sgt. Craig Blenis testified at his trial.

 

In the statement read on TODAY, Manning thanked his supporters. ?I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years,? he wrote. ?Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and encouragement have helped keep me strong.l I am forever indebted to those who wrote to me, made a donation to my defense fund, or came to watch a portion of the trial. I would especially like to thank Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network for their tireless efforts in raising awareness for my case and providing for my legal representation.?

 

Manning will likely serve his sentence at Fort Leavenworth, the only military prison for service members sentenced to 10 or more years, a Military District of Washington spokesperson told The Associated Press. The facility does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender identity issues but does provide psychiatric care, a Fort Leavenworth spokeswoman told Courthouse News.

 

In the U.S. prison system, transgender prisoners who have not had genital surgery are generally assigned to live with their birth-sex peers, but the military policy is unclear. 

 

Source: Today.com

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Please don't judge me for asking this:

 

Has it been mentioned whether he suffers aspergers or is on the autism spectrum at all?

 

Wouldn't surprise me... Apparently, his mum was a drunk whilst pregnant, as it's long known that can damage the baby in all sorts of ways.

 

All in all, I think he's a pretty confused guy and probably needs quite a lot of counselling.  Hopefully, whilst he's incarcerated, he can get some.

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I was a little worried... I thought I was going to come in here and see a bunch of people standing up for his right to live some fairy tale and he can be a woman if he wants to.  My faith in humanity has been restored....... for at least the next 30 seconds....

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I was a little worried... I thought I was going to come in here and see a bunch of people standing up for his right to live some fairy tale and he can be a woman if he wants to.  My faith in humanity has been restored....... for at least the next 30 seconds....

Yeah was gonna say...give it a bit ;)

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I was a little worried... I thought I was going to come in here and see a bunch of people standing up for his right to live some fairy tale and he can be a woman if he wants to.  My faith in humanity has been restored....... for at least the next 30 seconds....

 

Don't break out the champagne just yet...

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Its everyone's  right to live the way they want. However, being a prisoner, its a a complex situation if manning wants to live as a women. If manning wants to be a women, I dont see anything wrong with it. 

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I want to live as a cat.

 

 

Don't. You'll just get old, start crapping outside the litterbox and have to be put down. Been put through this twice already. Not fun.

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Don't. You'll just get old, start crapping outside the litterbox and have to be put down. Been put through this twice already. Not fun.

So...you have 7 lives left?

 

:D

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I was a little worried... I thought I was going to come in here and see a bunch of people standing up for his right to live some fairy tale and he can be a woman if he wants to.  My faith in humanity has been restored....... for at least the next 30 seconds....

 

If he wants to be a woman, that's his lookout. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you have to pay for that yourself, in the US?  So once he's out of the male only prison he's going to be living in for the next bunch of years, he can start his treatment and have his OP.

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I will stand up for his right to pursue this goal, self-funded, upon his release.

 

And I KNOW it will not bring him any peace.

 

Not necessarily true.  A very close friend of mine had her gender reassignment surgery 4 years ago now, and she couldn't be happier with the results.  No regrets at all.

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