3/11/15 Chelsea Manning and War Objectors (Kajihiro, Bridge, Paterson)
Raw livestream from 3/11/15 presentation at Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, Hawaii. Presentation by Jeff Paterson, former Kaneohe Bay Marine who public...
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3/11/15 Chelsea Manning and War Objectors (Kajihiro, Bridge, Paterson) - Video
Thursday March 12, 2015 02:07 AM
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Last December, when Chelsea Manning turned 27, she received birthday greetings from Michael Stipe, JM Coetzee, Slavoj iek, Terry Gilliam, Edward Snowden and Lupe Fiasco: not a bad group of friends for any young woman. Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood sent her a card, too, marked up with scribbles of support. Manning received it in Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas, where she is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks as a soldier in the U.S. Army. She replied to Westwood, "I am working a lot, studying, working on the appeal and a lawsuit on fundraising, writing articles and trying to stay healthy."
In February, Manning landed a new gig: contributing opinion writer at The Guardian US, focused on"war, gender, freedom of information." Days later, the U.S. military approved hormone therapy for Manning's gender transition, a first. And last week, in Washington, the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals issued an order saying that references to Manning in all future decisions, filings and orders should use female or gender-neutral pronouns. The U.S. government is unlikely to champion her as a whistleblower but Manning and her attorneys have made the government see things her way when it comes to her gender, which is its own accomplishment.
Manning has long presented herself as a kind of public moralist. When she pleaded guilty, she read a statement explaining her actions. It ran some 35 pages, and took more than an hour. After her sentencing, she made a formal request for a presidential pardon. She wrote that the decision to leak secret documents was made "out of a concern for my country and the world that we live in." Her time in Iraq made her "question the morality" of America's military activity since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. "I realized that in our efforts to meet the risks posed to us by the enemy, we had forgotten our Humanity," she said.
Last September, after publicly coming out as transgender, Manning sued the U.S. military, charging that the denial of her medical treatment for gender dysphoria was a violation of her constitutional rights. The suit said that, without treatment, Manning each day "experiences escalating anxiety, distress and depression. She feels as though her body is being poisoned by testosterone."
In December, Manning wrote an op-ed in The Guardian about her identity and the violations of her rights as a trans person. She wrote of "unfinished business when it comes to protecting civil rights for many people," from immigration reform to police brutality and racism to rampant discrimination faced by people like her. "We're banned from serving our country in the armed services unless we serve as trans people in secret, as I did," she wrote. She argued for self-recognition, the "absolute and inalienable right to define ourselves."
Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney who represents Manning in her gender dysphoria case, said Manning the prisoner is not allowed to browse the Web. But she consults print news, remains "a voracious reader" and has access to new gender theory texts, too.
Manning's relationship with The Guardian is another kind of recognition. (The Guardian, which won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the NSA mass surveillance program revealed by Snowden has a special relationship with leaks.) She will not be paid for her contributions, Strangio said.
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Still in military prison, Manning has won a gender-identity battle
Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, in wig and make-up. Photo: AFP/US Army
Last December, when Chelsea Manning turned 27, she received birthday greetings from Michael Stipe, JM Coetzee, Slavoj Zizek, Terry Gilliam, Edward Snowden, and Lupe Fiasco: not a bad group of friends for any young woman. Vivienne Westwood sent her a card, too, a handsome graphical map of red and green, marked up with scribbles of support in the loose but confident scrawl of a fashion designer. Manning received it, of course, in Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas, where she is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks as a soldier in the US Army. She replied to Westwood, "I am working a lot, studying, working on the appeal and a lawsuit on fundraising, writing articles and trying to stay healthy."
In February, in her capacity as an article-writer, Manning landed a new gig: contributing opinion writer at the Guardian US, focused on "war, gender, freedom of information". Days later, the United States military approved hormone therapy for Manning's gender transition, a first. And last Wednesday, in Washington, the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals issued an order saying that references to Manning in all future decisions, filings and orders should use female or gender-neutral pronouns. The US government is unlikely to champion her as a whistleblower-but Manning and her attorneys have managed to make the government see things her way when it comes to her gender, which is its own accomplishment.
Manning has long presented herself as a kind of public moralist. When she pleaded guilty, she did so by reading out a statement explaining her actions. It ran to some 35 pages, and took more than an hour. After her sentencing, she made a formal request for a presidential pardon. She wrote that the decision to leak secret documents was made "out of a concern for my country and the world that we live in". Her time in Iraq made her "question the morality" of America's military activity since 9/11. "I realised that in our efforts to meet the risks posed to us by the enemy, we had forgotten our Humanity," she said.
The US Army private then known as Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, Maryland in August 2013. Photo: Reuters
Last September, after publicly coming out as transgender, Manning sued the US military, charging that the denial of her medical treatment for gender dysphoria was a violation of her constitutional rights. The suit said that, without treatment, Manning each day "experiences escalating anxiety, distress and depression. She feels as though her body is being poisoned by testosterone."
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In December 2014, the month of her 27th birthday, Manning wrote an op-ed in the Guardian (she had previously been published in that newspaper, and in The New York Times), about her identity and the violations of her rights as a trans person. She wrote of "unfinished business when it comes to protecting civil rights for many people", from immigration reform to police brutality and racism to rampant discrimination faced by people like her. "We're banned from serving our country in the armed services unless we serve as trans people in secret, as I did," she wrote. She argued for self-recognition, the "absolute and inalienable right to define ourselves".
Chase Strangio, an ACLU staff attorney who represents Manning in her gender dysphoria case, told me that in Fort Leavenworth, Manning is not allowed to browse the web. But she consults print news, remains "a voracious reader" and has access to new gender theory texts, too.
Manning's relationship with The Guardian is one kind of recognition. (The Guardian, which won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the NSA's mass surveillance program-revealed by Edward Snowden-has a special relationship with leaks.) She will not be paid for her contributions. Strangio said that she believes this is by choice.
Read more:
Chelsea Manning's next chapter: a small ray of sunshine at Leavenworth
Last December, when Chelsea Manning turned 27, she received birthday greetings from singer Michael Stipe, Nobel Prize winner JM Coetzee, Marxist philosopher Slavoj iek, director Terry Gilliam, rapper Lupe Fiasco and Edward Snowden; not a bad group of friends for any young woman.
Vivienne Westwood sent her a card, too, a handsome graphical map of red and green, marked up with scribbles of support in the loose but confident scrawl of a fashion designer. Manning received it, of course, in Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas, where she is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks as a soldier in the U.S. Army.
Shereplied to Westwood, "I am working a lot, studying, working on the appeal and a lawsuit on fundraising, writing articles and trying to stay healthy." In February, in her capacity as an article-writer, Manning landed a new gig: contributing opinion writer at the Guardian US, focused on "war, gender, freedom of information." Days later, the United States military approved hormone therapy for Manning's gender transition, a first. And last Wednesday, in Washington, the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals issued an order saying that references to Manning in all future decisions, filings, and orders should use female or gender-neutral pronouns. The United States government is unlikely to champion her as a whistleblower - but Manning and her attorneys have managed to make the government see things her way when it comes to her gender, which is its own accomplishment.
Manning has long presented herself as a kind of public moralist. When she pleaded guilty, she did so by reading out a statement explaining her actions. It ran to some 35 pages, and took more than an hour. After her sentencing, she made a formal request for a presidential pardon. She wrote that the decision to leak secret documents was made "out of a concern for my country and the world that we live in." Her time in Iraq made her "question the morality" of America's military activity since 9/11. "I realized that in our efforts to meet the risks posed to us by the enemy, we had forgotten our humanity," she said.
Last September, after publicly coming out as transgender, Manning sued the U.S. military, charging that the denial of her medical treatment for gender dysphoria was a violation of her constitutional rights. The suit said that, without treatment, Manning each day "experiences escalating anxiety, distress and depression. She feels as though her body is being poisoned by testosterone."
In December 2014, the month of her 27th birthday, Manning wrote an op-ed in the Guardian (she had previously been published in that newspaper, and in the New York Times), about her identity and the violations of her rights as a trans person. She wrote of "unfinished business when it comes to protecting civil rights for many people," from immigration reform to police brutality and racism to rampant discrimination faced by people like her. "We're banned from serving our country in the armed services unless we serve as trans people in secret, as I did," she wrote. She argued for self-recognition, the "absolute and inalienable right to define ourselves."
Chase Strangio, an ACLU staff attorney who represents Manning in her gender dysphoria case, said that in Fort Leavenworth, Manning is not allowed to browse the web. But she consults print news, remains "a voracious reader," andhas access to new gender theory texts, too.
Manning's relationship with the Guardian is one kind of recognition. (The Guardian, which won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the NSA's mass surveillance program - revealed by Edward Snowden - has a special relationship with leaks.) She will not be paid for her contributions.
The journalist David France sees the agreement with the Guardian as indication that Manning has "kind of figured it out." France, who directed the documentary film "How to Survive a Plague" and has corresponded with Manning, said that Manning can only be visited by people she had named before her imprisonment, not by new friends or journalists. She cannot be photographed and cannot give interviews on camera.
"Through the Guardian," he said, "we can finally get a regular impression of Chelsea now, through her own voice, which is terrific. There's so much she can tell us, about what her life is like. I think she's very insightful, I think she's very a keen observer of life. It's interesting to start hearing from her now. We're starting to see Snowden make his appearance. We're actually starting to hear from these people, which I think is good for the dialogue."
Read more from the original source:
Chelsea Manning's�next chapter
Published February 13, 2015
In this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army, Pfc. Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick.(AP)
Hormone treatment for gender reassignment has been approved for Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst convicted of espionage for sending classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.
Defense Department officials said Thursday that the hormone therapy was approved Feb. 5 by Col. Erica Nelson, commandant of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Manning is serving a 35-year sentence.
The treatment would enable the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning to make the transition to a woman. Manning changed her legal name in April 2014.
The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The memo approving Manning's hormone treatment was first reported by USA Today.
Calls to military officials at Fort Leavenworth weren't immediately returned.
The decision came after a lawsuit was filed in September in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It alleged Manning was at a high risk of self-castration and suicide unless she received more focused treatment for gender dysphoria, the sense of being a woman in a man's body.
The Army was providing some treatment but not enough, according to the lawsuit, including psychotherapy from a mental health specialist who lacked the qualifications to treat gender dysphoria. The Federal Bureau of Prisons and many state and local corrections agencies administer hormone therapy to prisoners with gender dysphoria, but Manning is the first transgender military prisoner to request such treatment.
Chase Strangio, an attorney with the ACLU and counsel for Manning in her lawsuit, called the decision an important first step in Manning's treatment regimen.
See the article here:
Military approves hormone treatment for leaker Chelsea Manning
Patrick Semansky / AP, file
Army Pfc. Chelsea Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Maryland, after the third day of her court martial on June 5, 2013.
Chelsea Manning, a transgender woman convicted of leaking national security secrets to Wikileaks, must be referred to with feminine pronouns or in a gender neutral way in legal papers filed in her appeal, an Army Court ruled.
In the order, dated Wednesday, the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals said: "Reference to appellant in all future formal papers filed before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by this court shall either be neutral, e.g., Private First Class Manning or appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun." The order, signed by a court clerk, did not make the military change the name of the case in which Manning is referred to as Bradley and Chelsea.
Manning had sought the court order to force the military to use pronouns that conform to her gender identity; the military had opposed such requests, her supporters said in a statement. The Army and Pentagon didn't immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
In a legal filing dated Feb. 9, the Army opposed the request, citing a lack of legal basis and saying Manning didn't show how it was serve the interest of justice. The Army said it would use standard practice when an appellant's name changed during the course of legal proceedings including both to "avoid confusion" and would refer to Manning with masculine pronouns.
Manning revealed her gender identity as a transgender female after being convicted and sentenced to 35 years in the military prison at Leavenworth in July 2013. In February, the U.S. Army approved hormone therapy for Manning, saying since she'd been clinically diagnosed and as transgender and was confined to a military prison, it was obligated to provide and pay for her treatments.
"This is an important development in Chelsea's fight for adequate medical care for her gender dysphoria," Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney representing Manning in her lawsuit seeking medical care for gender dysphoria. "That fight continues but at least the government can no longer attempt to erase Chelsea's identity by referring to her as male in every legal filing."
First published March 5 2015, 4:23 PM
Miranda Leitsinger is a reporter at NBC News. She started this role in February 2011. Leitsinger is responsible for long-term enterprise and breaking news coverage. Her beats include recovery from natural disasters and mass shootings, the LGBT community, income inequality, immigration and the Boy Scouts.
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Army Must Refer to Chelsea Manning As a Woman, Not Man ...
WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. military has been ordered to use female pronouns when referring to Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier who is serving 35 years in prison for giving classified military documents to Wikileaks.
The U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Thursday that the military must use either female or gender-neutral pronouns when referencing Manning in the future. The military may no longer refer to Manning as a man.
Manning, formerly known as Bradley, announced in August 2013 that she was a woman.
"As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me," Manning said in the statement at the time. "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. I hope that you will support me in this transition."
Last month, the Army approved hormone therapy for her.
Thursday's ruling also means Manning will henceforth only be known by her new name, Chelsea, not Bradley.
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U.S. military ordered to refer to Chelsea Manning as female
A military appeals court on Thursday ordered the government to refrain from referring to WikiLeaks leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning as a male.
After the August 2013 espionage conviction for leaking more than 700,000 documents and video, Manning announced that she would live as a woman with the name Chelsea going forward. She also appealed the conviction. A non-military judge approved the name change last year. Hormone therapy, which she is now getting, is assisting her transition. Manning has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
"Reference to appellant in all future formal papers filed before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by this court shall either be neutral, e.g., Private First Class Manning or appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun," the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Thursday.
The military had opposed referring to Manning as a female in court documents. The government argued that "unless directed otherwise," it would continue "using masculine pronouns."
Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney for Manning, said the military tribunal is "dignifying Chelsea's womanhood."
"This is an important development in Chelseas fight for adequate medical care for her gender dysphoria. That fight continues but at least the government can no longer attempt to erase Chelseas identity by referring to her as male in every legal filing," Strangio said.
The "Free Chelsea Manning" network said Thursday that the military, which bans transgender people from serving, "is continuing to deny Chelseas request to grow her hair consistent with the standards for female prisoners."
Manning, who is jailed in Kansas at Fort Leavenworth, now writes for the Guardian. In December, she wrote:
The challenges that trans people are forced to navigateeven in accessing identification, but in so much moreare the result of institutional bias that favors cisgender people and assumes that trans people are deviant. When your own governments policies send a message that you dont existor that you shouldntits devastating. Despite ample evidence that trans people have existed in most cultures throughout history, and the medical consensus that trans people can live healthy, productive lives, many governments continue to impose barriers on trans people that can make it almost impossible to survive.
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Military court: Army must not refer to WikiLeaks leaker Manning as a male
WASHINGTON -- An army appeals court has ordered the military to stop its regular practice of referring to Private First Class Chelsea Manning as a man.
The military had been asked by Manning and her attorney to cease the habit, but filed an official opposition to that request. The Army Court of Criminal Appeals has now ruled on the matter, ordering that future formal papers filed before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by this court shall either be neutral, e.g., Private First Class Manning or appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun.
Nancy Hollander, Mannings lead attorney, applauded the court's decision. This is an important victory for Chelsea, who has been mistreated by the government for years," she said in a statement. "Though only a small step in a long legal fight, my co-counsel, Vincent Ward, Captain Dave Hammond, and I are thrilled that Chelsea will be respected as the woman she is in all legal filings."
Manning shared hundreds of thousands of classified documents with Wikileaks, including some that revealed apparent war crimes, and in 2013 was sentenced to 35 years in prison for espionage and other offenses.
In a Feb. 9 brief, Army Capt. Daniel Goldberg argued for the government that Manning had provided no explanation of how her request would "serve the interest of justice."
Goldberg said that "to avoid confusion," the government wished to continue referring to the appeals case by the unwieldy title of "Private First Class (E-3), BRADLEY E. MANNING (nka CHELSEA E. MANNING)." He said the government intended to continue using masculine pronouns "[u]nless directed otherwise by this honorable court."
ACLU attorney Chase Strangio, who is representing Manning in her effort to get medical treatment for gender dysphoria, praised Thursday's court decision: The court rightly recognized that dignifying Chelseas womanhood is not the trivial matter that the government attempted to frame it as. This is an important development in Chelseas fight for adequate medical care for her gender dysphoria. That fight continues but at least the government can no longer attempt to erase Chelseas identity by referring to her as male in every legal filing."
The military is still objecting to her request to grow her hair out, as other female prisoners are allowed to do.
The ruling comes at a time when military leaders may be poised to revisit the ban on transgender troops. Just weeks into his job, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said last month that he's "very open-minded" about transgender military personnel. The White House later endorsed Carter's comments.
An estimated 15,500 transgender people are already serving in the military in secret, according to a 2014 Williams Institute report.
Originally posted here:
Court Orders Army To Stop Referring To Chelsea Manning As ...
TIME U.S. Courts Chelsea Manning Can No Longer Be Called He by the Military, Court Rules Reuters Chelsea Manning is pictured dressed as a woman in this 2010 photograph obtained on August 14, 2013 Manning's legal adviser called the new ruling an important victory"
The U.S. military is now required to refer to former soldier Chelsea Manning with a feminine pronoun or the gender-neutral Private First Class Manning, according to a new court order.
Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence in a Kansas prison for releasing classified documents to WikiLeaks, is undergoing gender reassignment from male to female. She legally shed her masculine name, Bradley, in 2014, but in January the government objected to Mannings decision to adopt female pronouns in filings, saying the 27-year-old was banned from doing so.
Unless directed otherwise by this honourable court, the government intends to refer to [Manning] using masculine pronouns, the government said last month.
However, a court order now says that Manning cannot be referred to as a he. Lawyers have long alleged that Mannings gender dysphoria has been trivialized and discounted by officials, barring the Oklahoma native from accessing the critical medical attention she needs.
Transgender individuals are still not permitted to serve in the U.S. military.
According to Mannings legal adviser Nancy Hollander, the new ruling is an important victory for Chelsea, who has been mistreated by the government for years.
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Chelsea Manning Cannot Be Called a Man, New Court Order Says