Accepting Chelsea Manning!

[Sejd]

I was a bit disturbed when I read how the press described Chelsea's condition as a mental disorder. We still have a long way to go, was my thought. I am not commenting on Manning's crime or not crime or anything political, but I think it hurts us all when Chelsea Manning is painted as a mental basket case and that this "Gender Dysphoria" (hate that stamp) is one of the big issues in this persons lack of or misguided judgement of right and wrong. I just hope whis TG will be treated with respect as they (she) do their prisson time.

[arbon]

Ha! Not likely. Even on this site there is not the courtesy to gender her correctly no chance the rest if the world treating her with any compassion or respect

[Amy A]

I've just been on the thread about her in the media section, and have posted there, but I'm really disappointed in the reaction on this forum. The hypocrisy is frankly astounding. My 65 year old dad, who never had any insight into trans issues up until about 4 moths ago, had no problem with using the correct pronouns!!

[Jorja]

The entire Chelsea Manning announcement bothers me. I cannot help but think this is a strategic move that she is using to somehow escape justice. That being said, if she is truly transsexual and serious about transition, I say more power to her. She has an uphill battle on her hands fighting the military system and I wish her the best.

[Sally24]

Apparently the basic information about her being transgendered has been available but not really publicized. The timing for now is because she is preparing to serve a 30 year prison term. Good luck to her in a military prison. Hopefully the media exposure will keep her a little safer and maybe enable her to at least get some basic medical treatment.

[Amy A]

I cannot help but think this is a strategic move that she is using to somehow escape justice.

I've heard this argument a few times on this forum today, and I just don't understand it. What evidence is there to support the notion that Chelsea Manning's life will be easier, or that her sentence would be reduced in any way, now that she has come out as transgender? You say 'to somehow escape justice' but no one has actually expanded on this as yet, or put in in any form of coherent argument. Chelsea's transgenderism was factored in during the trial and her state of mind will have been taken into account by the judge, so I just don't see how a public announcement after the ruling would affect anything at all. The best result she can hope for is treatment and possibly transfer to a women's prison, but I doubt it's a bed of roses in there either.

Sorry to pick on you Jorja, especially when you follow up your comments with support, I'm just feeling a bit angsty about this whole issue.

[dreamer_2.0]

There sure are a lot of supporters asking Obama for a pardon, perhaps the public announcement is intended to get more supporters. Just a thought.

It could also just be because the media feeds on stuff like this and it makes the story more sellable.

Who knows the real reason. Regardless if she is trans it'll likely be a very rough time in prison.

[Leona]

I hate to be the one to break this to y'all, but the fact that Chelsea Manning is transgender has been covered in the press previously, and has been a part of the case since it began. This is decidedly NOT news, and the fact that it was made "public" after the decision means they had no intention of it affecting the legal process up to the sentence. Right now, it's a matter of survival for her, and she very likely faces a hell the rest of us have only seen in our nightmares.

I've personally known she was transgender since before the arraignment. It's been on the Wikipedia page since at least that long. The fact that this is news for any of you is you giving in to the sensationalist nature of this news.

I suspect the announcement was made only because it had previously been in the press, and that for her, this is a step forward, and one we should be applauding and supporting. Even were she a serial killer, we should provide support for her gender dysphoria. She can rot in prison for the rest of her life for all we care about her crimes, but this is America, and she deserves some dignity, and at a certain level, if we, as transgender people, want to be treated with that dignity, then the people in prison who are also transgender deserve the same level of dignity all the other prisoners get.

It's not about the crime.

And yes, I'm obviously annoyed by how she's been lambasted here. I fully accept her as Chelsea Manning, female, and that's the end of that.

[Leona]

And, dare I say, almostaladay, we don't HAVE to understand to be accepting and supporting. It helps, but it's not required.

[Leona]

It's decidedly lacking in this case.

Dear lady, I often make jokes, and that is because I am a fool, but regardless of that, I will always support you and anybody else unconditionally who is transitioning. There is no margin of error here. I'd rather support a prankster and look like an ass than fail to support someone going through this ordeal. And as this particular case shows, I don't care what crimes may or may not have been committed by the person who needs my support, because the support they need is independent of the crime.

I wish I could talk to Chelsea Manning in person. This is one situation where I feel like I'd be the right person to talk to, and that doesn't happen very often.

[dreamer_2.0]

The fact that this is news for any of you is you giving in to the sensationalist nature of this news.

Or it could be because some of us didn't read about her on wiki or know anything about her until the announcement made the news. Shame on us for being surprised at news that is new to us.

[Jorja]

Sorry to pick on you Jorja, especially when you follow up your comments with support, I'm just feeling a bit angsty about this whole issue.

At this point I don't have any answers. I did not know Manning personally and have not spent much time following the case. From what little I have seen about it, it just does not sit well with me. Maybe it is the way the media is presenting it (now that couldn't happen). To me it appears as though she is using the transgender issues as an ace in the hole. What it is going to get her, I don't know. This is just the way I am feeling about the situation right now. You all have the right to feel the way you feel about it. I guess we will have to sit back and see how it progresses.

[Leona]

Or it could be because some of us didn't read about her on wiki or know anything about her until the announcement made the news. Shame on us for being surprised at news that is new to us.

I wasn't trying to disparage, only trying to point out that this aspect of the case has been circulating for a long time. If you didn't catch it before, then I'm sorry.

The fact remains that the GD part of the case has been there pretty much since the beginning, as well as the bullying. This case isn't as cut and dried as it has been presented here.

[Badtranny]

Manning is a mental case and a criminal. The fact that she may be TG has nothing to do with that opinion.

The last thing we need is somebody like her representing us as a transgender person.

I would like to say that I'm surprised that so much of the community is trying to aggrandize her, but unfortunately I am not. Our community is desperately delusional and they will sink us all in their effort to promote an extreme ideology.

I am a trans woman, but I don't call every one who claims to be trans my sister. The sisterhood is a place of honor that must be earned by walking through the fire of transition. Manning doesn't know the meaning of the word honor. Why should we automatically believe someone who has proven to be so untrustworthy?

[PaulaQ]

It's not so much that people are trying to aggrandize her, it's just that there have been other (civilian) prisoners who've been allowed HRT while incarcerated, at least one I can recall was a murderer. I think what bothers a lot of us is that her condition isn't viewed as one that needs medical treatment by many (lots of that here, lots in the military, lots in the civilian world).

There are a wide variety of fairly moderate things that they'd treat on her, and they'd damn sure treat her if she had a heart condition. But being transgendered? No.

Would I be happier if the world didn't now associate Chelsea Manning with us? Sure. But it does, so here we are.

I'm also worried about what the military may eventually do should it decide that we are, now, a security risk. It's had two very public examples this year of people in highly sensitive positions who were apparently trans without the knowledge of the service. I would think this would somewhat freak out security people - even if this stuff doesn't make any difference on the job - they are mostly supposed to know about it, are they not?

[Amy A]

I would like to say that I'm surprised that so much of the community is trying to aggrandize her, but unfortunately I am not. Our community is desperately delusional and they will sink us all in their effort to promote an extreme ideology.

I don't see many people trying to aggrandize her on this forum, quite the opposite in fact. I've seen calls for the death penalty and a suggestion she should be shot, and even hopes that she'll suffer some form of sexual abuse in prison, but I haven't read a single comment saying that what she did was right. The issue here for me is the ways in which some people here are trying to deny the possibility of her being TG just because they don't like her, and the general lack of understanding of GD as a whole by members who aren't transitioning.

Chelsea Manning doesn't represent me in any way, for a start she's an American with a background in the military, so our lives are likely to be quite different. It's the same with many members on here, all we have is the shared experience of GD, and then for some of transitioning. It's great that we have support/action groups and forums, but I often feel we are too disparate a group to ever truly form a community.

[Kathryn Martin]

Manning revealed on May 21st, 2010 that he was suffering from gender dysphoria in a chat interview with Adrian Lamo. Lamo was the person who reported Manning to the authorities and on May 27th, 2010 Manning was arrested. Manning broke the law and has been tried and convicted and sentenced. He is a criminal.

According to his criminal conviction he eligible for parole and early release within eight years.

Trying to explain unlawful behavior by claiming to be Chelsea is like saying if I could only have been Chelsea this would not have happened. What a crock of sh*it. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened in the ABC interview with her lawyer and by reading of the statement. And why should I believe Manning? He has already shown that he cannot be trusted. And for what should we pay him respect. what has been said or done by him that has earned the respect of anyone here? He said "I am now a woman and go by the name of Chelsea" which is hardly anything in itself that would garner respect is it? In my view it is more of "I am the victim" no matter what he did.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

Manning "played" the ts card and its a losing card...and it hurts every single one of us...Manning makes us look crazy...manning implicates all of us by making this part of the crime that was obviously committed.

[I Am Paula]

Whenever something newsworthy happens, and a transsexual is involved, which part comes to the forefront? The news, or the transsexuality. I won't say Chelsea is playing the TS card, the media is. She is a criminal who happens to be TS.

[LaurenB]

Ever been 25 years old before? Ever joined the service thinking it may solve some of your personal issues? Imagine you had the ability to see classified things and one of them was a video of a a helicopter killing unarmed civilians (and two Reuters journalists)? Imagine you had a conscience and some ideals beyond drinking the American military coolaid. Imagine you were transgender at the same time.

[Marleena]

*delete*......

[Catherine Hopkins]

Ever been 25 years old before? Ever joined the service thinking it may solve some of your personal issues? Imagine you had the ability to see classified things and one of them was a video of a a helicopter killing unarmed civilians (and two Reuters journalists)? Imagine you had a conscience and some ideals beyond drinking the American military coolaid. Imagine you were transgender at the same time.

And imagine you'd also told your supervisor that you were transgender and it had been ignored and also made a grab for a weapon from a rack - both offences that should have lead to discharge. And then imagine the powers that be sweep both offences under the carpet so that you may (must) finish your tour and then leave you with unsupervised and insecure access to such videos (including passwords on post-it notes FFS) despite your obvious instability?

Please everyone, read a little deeper than the useless mainstream media coverage?

[Celeste]

I'm wondering how much of the info exposed was never revealed to the public?Just think,we are only basing our opinions on what the military chooses to reveal to begin with.So my point is that "we" the general public,would need to be privy to "other"classified info in order to understand the longevity of his sentence.

[Badtranny]

I don't see many people trying to aggrandize her on this forum, .

Well, there's a bunch of older gals on this forum so that may be why, but based on my travels around the net, the trans community in general is rallying around this person like they want her to be a spokes-model.

It's embarrassing that the most disagreeable people are embraced by my community for no action other than claiming to be TG. I think we should be setting a little higher bar frankly. I hope that kid who did the Boston bombing doesn't come out as TG, we'd probably hold a fund raising marathon in her honor.

[Loni]

well the prison she is in she will always be a he.
needs to find a way to turn a life + prison term into a parol deal so she can get out get a job and pay for her self.
but i do not think that will happen.

till thin she will be kept confined away from the gen pop " for her" safety.

.