Posted on 08/27/2013 5:27:42 PM PDT by Morgana
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 27, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. Armed Forces will not be paying for Bradley Manning to alter his body to match his new, female persona, according to a Pentagon spokesman.
“The Army does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender identity disorder,” Army spokesman George Wright said in a statement to Courthouse News Service. He said the military still considers Manning a soldier and will provide him with appropriate mental health care if he wants it. Bradley Manning now wishes to be called "Chelsea" and referred to by feminine pronouns.
Wright did not tell the paper whether Manning would be permitted to undergo a sex-change if he pays for it himself.
But Manning’s defense lawyer, David Coombs, told the Today Show that if military officials do not offer to arrange for the hormone therapy and surgery his client wants, he’ll bring legal action against them.
"If Fort Leavenworth does not [provide Manning with a sex change] then I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure they are forced to do so," Coombs said.
On Wednesday, the 25-year-old, 5’2” Manning was sentenced to 35 years in Fort Leavenworth military prison for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. On Thursday, he announced via a statement read aloud on the Today Show that he intends to live the rest of his life as a woman named “Chelsea Manning,” and wants the government to facilitate the transformation.
“As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me,” Manning wrote. “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.” He also requested that government officials and media outlets use feminine pronouns and descriptors when referring to him, along with his desired new name. Some news outlets, including the Associated Press, have already begun to comply.
Manning’s Thursday announcement was not the first time he has claimed to struggle with gender confusion issues. Four hours of testimony during his sentencing hearing were spent trying to convince the court that his struggles with gender dysphoria, combined with narcissistic personality disorder, an alcoholic upbringing and borderline personality disorder, so destabilized the young man that he could not be held fully responsible for breaking the law.
As evidence of his gender confusion, the defense offered a copy of an email Manning sent a superior in 2010 with the heading “My Problem,” to which he had attached a photo of himself dressed in drag, with the filename “Breanna.jpg.”
Click "like" if you support TRADITIONAL marriage.
His former therapist, Captain Michael Worsley, argued that the military’s unwillingness to facilitate sex changes for people who consider themselves transgender could have worsened Manning’s mental state.
“There would never be a time where he would able to be openly female and so seeking treatment for that, again, the treatment would be helping you adjust to that. … It’s not treating it like a disorder … so that would be difficult to do in the military,” Worsley said.
But Greg Rinckey, a former Army judge advocate general, told the Washington Post that regardless of how Manning feels about his gender, the military will likely “take the position that Private Manning is still male. He still has a penis and hasn’t gone through surgery. If he fears for his safety, he can be put in isolation or protective custody.”
Rinckey told the Post he thinks Manning’s attorneys are just trying to help their client avoid the notoriously harsh conditions at the all-male Fort Leavenworth and serve his sentence at a federal prison instead. “The military has the ability to do that,” he said. “It is rare, but it can happen.”
“...unless our commander-in-chief forces us to.” [wink, wink]
If they put him in the right section of the prison there are probably inmates who will perform that operation for him at no charge.
They’ll cave. Obama will see to it.
What a deformed country we now live in.
no need for a sex change as once he enters jail, he’ll be someone else’ “woman”
Obama intervenes in 3, 2, 1
And they still gave him an ultra-high security clearance???
Not to worry, Chelsea. Even without the hormone treatments, you'll soon be somebody's girlfriend.
Slam it in a cell door and call him Sally .....the Army Amputee !
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 America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi! |
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A$$hole is gender appropriate. Wonder why the person who signed off on his security clearance isn’t sharing a cell with him?
Yeah Manning ... go “F” yourself
We're not completely heartless, though. While you won't get the surgery, here's some lipstick, nylons, lingerie, and a drum of lube...
That comes after he serves his sentence. Until then he is an E-1. The military can not hold civilian prisoners.
make him go without the lube.
If he is really a female inside, he shouldn’t need any
That comes after he serves his sentence. Until then he is an E-1. The military can not hold civilian prisoners.
Thank you, Harmless Teddy Bear. I didn't know that. Now, I can cross another mystery off the list.
Choose the cellmate carefully.... Chelsea should get everything required....
I think we should give him a species change operation.
/johnny
With all pay and allowances forfeit, if I recall correctly.
/johnny
It will be allowed in the future. Nothing is too sick or perverted these days.
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