People Are Getting Emotional About The Story Behind Chelsea Manning’s Twitter Handle – BuzzFeed News

Manning, who as an Army intelligence officer leaked more than 700,000 military intelligence reports and documents to WikiLeaks, was released from military prison last month after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence. While in prison, Manning came out as transgender and changed her name to Chelsea. Her sentence was commuted by then-president Barack Obama in January 2017.

"This was happening in a particular context, just after I had gone to Thailand for sex reassignment surgery." With the letters XY marked on her hand, Schultz said, she had hoped to "make clear [her] situation as a transsexual woman."

The photo went on to be used by various publications and websites, including Wikipedia.

"Actually, it's funny, because I consider Chelsea Manning a heroine," Schultz told BuzzFeed News.

"My friends from Reset [a queer and feminist hacking page] were the ones who went, 'Hey, Chelsea Manning posted something on Twitter!' When I saw the tweet, it made me emotional. For six or seven years, I've been going to the CCC [an association devoted to hacking], and I've seen people there who have been leading campaigns to free her."

This post was translated from French.

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People Are Getting Emotional About The Story Behind Chelsea Manning's Twitter Handle - BuzzFeed News