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

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 Can No Longer Be Called ‘He’ by the Military, Court Rules

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 Call Chelsea Manning A Woman: Court