Bradley Manning plans to live as a woman; will Fort Leavenworth allow hormone therapy?
A day after receiving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified documents, Bradley Manning has revealed plans to begin hormone therapy to live life as a woman.
The former Army private revealed the plans in a statement read on the Today show, Today News reports. “As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me,” the statement said. “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. I hope that you will support me in this transition.”
Manning is expected to serve her sentence at Fort Leavenworth; a spokeswoman told Courthouse News Service that the military prison does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery. Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, said he hopes the facility will provide the hormone therapy and he will fight to obtain it for his client.
Coombs also said he expects Manning will be paroled in seven years, but he hopes the president will pardon her.
Manning’s lawyers introduced evidence of her struggle with gender identity during the trial in an effort to show the stress she was feeling. In an email to a former supervisor, Manning said she was transgender and had joined the Army “to get rid of it.”
Hat tip to CNN.
Updated at 2:01 p.m. to comply with Associated Press style on use of gendered pronouns.
