I heard from commenters embertine and 2up2down2furious today that after his trial and sentencing, Bradley Manning has issued a statement announcing a wish to live as a woman and to be known in the future as Chelsea E. Manning and be addressed using the female pronoun.
I will of course do so.
While I was writing about Manning, I was aware about the gender identity issue and was urged many times to refer to him as a woman and to use the name Breanna, which was purportedly the name that was preferred by Manning. But in the absence of a formal statement from Manning, I did not do so thinking that it was presumptuous of me to decide on someone else’s behalf how they wished to be identified until they were ready to announce their preference.
But now that the trial is over and that issue is now settled, Chelsea Manning clearly feels that she can move on to the next stage of her life.
I am not sure how accommodating the military prison system is to dealing with gender transitions but I am hoping that along with their acceptance of gays, they will have a more enlightened attitude on this too.
I wish her well.
I too chose to continue using “Bradley” and the male pronoun in the absence of direct clarification: The analogy I used was that to use “Breanna” and the female pronoun on what flimsy hints had been made public would be equivalent to switching back to a person’s birth name and cis-gendered pronoun on the basis of offhand comments ze had made about the possibility of de-transition. Both decisions would be presumptuous and hasty. I think the fact that she has chosen the name “Chelsea” rather than “Breanna” bears out my reservations in that regard.
Of course, now that we know for sure, there is no longer any ambiguity.
How long until the wingnuts declare this proves -- well, something -- about the Clintons?
It looks like the prison will not provide the hormone therapy, according to the Guardian article on this topic. They’ll need to be browbeaten or sued into providing the same level of healthcare on this issue that non-military federal prisons already provide.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/bradley-manning-woman-chelsea-gender-reassignment