PNN #184 Show Notes http://bit.ly/14nlSc2
Chelsea Manning: I Am a Woman
http://www.today.com/news/bradley-manning-i-want-live-woman-6C10974915
Actor Makes Coming Out Peaceful Political Statement
Friday, August 23rd 2013. 1 ounce of silver is 24 dollars. 1 Bitcoin is 123 dollars. Peace News Now is brought to you in part by friends of http://WeUseCoins.com.
The whistleblower formerly known as Bradley Manning, the Army private sentenced to military prison for leaking classified documents, revealed she intends to live out the remainder of her life as a woman.
She wrote in a statement exclusively provided to TODAY, quote, “I am Chelsea Manning. I am 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.”
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.
Quote “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). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.”
Signed “Chelsea E. Manning.”
During her trial, Manning’s defense team suggested her struggles with gender identity as a gay soldier were a factor in her decision to leak. Her attorneys presented an email to a former supervisor from April 2010 in which she said she was transgender and joined the Army to, quote, “get rid of it.” The email, which had the subject line “My Problem,” also included a photo of Manning in which she is wearing a blonde wig and lipstick. During Manning’s nine-month detainment in Quantico, she sent two letters to her counselor using the name “Breanna.”
Manning will likely serve the sentence at Fort Leavenworth. There is hope for Manning to get out on parole in 7 years or possibly be pardoned by a president even sooner.
Her lawyer said that Manning will not ask to live in a female prison, but he is "hoping" that Fort Leavenworth "would do the right thing" and provide hormone therapy for Manning. quote, "If Fort Leavenworth does not, then I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure they are forced to do so."
The Army responded to Manning's decision to seek hormone therapy with a statement. quote, "The Army does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender identity disorder."
In the statement read on TODAY, Manning thanked her supporters. quote, “I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years. Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and encouragement have helped keep me strong. 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.”
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Wentworth Miller is the latest celebrity to reveal he's gay.
After being invited to attend the St. Petersburg International Film Festival in Russia, the "Prison Break" star decided it was time to go public with his sexual orientation.
The 41-year-old wrote a letter to the festival's director in which he wrote, quote, "Thank you for your kind invitation. As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes. However, as a gay man, I must decline. I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government. The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly. Perhaps, when and if circumstances improve, I'll be free to make a different choice."
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