Chelsea Manning has only been out of prison for a short time, but shes already made a splash. <\/p>\n
The trans soldier spent seven years behind bars for leaking 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks. <\/p>\n
Now she is out of prison thanks to President Obamas pardon and making the most of her new found freedom. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Manning posted a photo of herself in a red bathing suit to Instagram. <\/p>\n
The image of her strutting down the beach, veteran photographer Annie Leibovitz, is taken from the September issue of Vogue. <\/p>\n
Guess this is what freedom looks like, she captioned the image on Instagram. <\/p>\n
The magazine followed the trans activist as she prepared for the Lambda Literary Awards, which honours LGBT writers. <\/p>\n
I knew that I was different, Manning tells Vogue. <\/p>\n
I gravitated more toward playing house, but the teachers were always pushing me toward playing the more competitive games with the boys. <\/p>\n
She continues: I spent so much time wondering, Whats wrong with me? Why cant I fit in? <\/p>\n
Manning was just 22 when she shared the US diplomatic correspondence, which included evidence of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, profiles of detainees at Guantanamo prison camp, and low-level battlefield reports. <\/p>\n
Manning speaking to ABC in her first interview since leaving prison. Interview below. <\/p>\n
I have a responsibility to the public we all have a responsibility, Manning told ABC News. <\/p>\n
Anything Ive done, its me. Theres no one else. No one told me to do this. Nobody directed me to do this. This is me. Its on me. <\/p>\n
The 29-year-old added: Were getting all this information from all these different sources and its just death, destruction, mayhem. <\/p>\n
Were filtering it all through facts, statistics, reports, dates, times, locations, and eventually, you just stop. <\/p>\n
I stopped seeing just statistics and information, and I started seeing people. <\/p>\n
Obamas decision to commute Mannings sentence one of the last of his presidency was credited by many commentators to years of campaigning from advocacy groups. <\/p>\n
The decision was criticised by then President Elect Donald Trump, who called Manning an ungrateful traitor. <\/p>\n
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