Manning ready to pay for hormone therapy - attorney
Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower formerly known as Bradley Manning who announced she wanted to live as a woman after being sentenced to 35 years in jail, is ready to pay for her hormone therapy, her lawyer said.
David Coombs, Manning’s lawyer, announced his defendant would
want to have hormone treatment as soon as possible. In an
interview with AP, Coombs said he perceived from online comments
about the situation that people were mostly objecting to Manning
being given this kind of therapy on the taxpayers’ dime.
The attorney said he and Manning had some hope that the Army or
the military prison would finance hormone treatment, since it had
been an Army psychiatrist who diagnosed Manning with
gender-identity disorder.
"It's just to be comfortable in her own skin," Coombs
said, referring to Manning as female, according to the
whistleblower’s wish.
The day after Bradley Manning was sentenced
for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents, he
announced he wanted to live as a woman, and to live under the
name of Chelsea
Elizabeth.
The attorney explained Manning did not want sex-reassignment
surgery, but thought the hormone therapy - high doses of estrogen
to promote female characteristics, such as breast development –
could help to cope with gender disphoria.
The chances the Army will pay for the treatment are meager,
according to officials’ earlier comments. "The Army does not
provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender
identity disorder," Kimberly Lewis, the spokeswoman for Fort
Leavenworth prison where Manning is to serve his sentence, told
Courthouse News Service on August 20.
Coombs does not rule out the possibility of Manning having to sue
in military or civilian court for his right to get hormone
treatment. The attorney said he hoped the military prison
"will simply do the right thing."
The Fort Leavenworth prison is
all-male and its officials are at this point unlikely to refer to
Manning by the name and pronoun she wishes to be addressed by.
Coombs, however, said he and his client would still look into the
legal options for the name change and would try to make the
military recognize it.
The lawyer said Manning realizes that the process of accepting
her new gender and name will take some time.
"There's a realization that most people know her as
Bradley," Coombs said. "Chelsea is a realist and
understands."
The whistleblower’s supporters are, however, already taking
action to make it happen sooner.
“In response to PVT Manning's announcement, the Bradley
Manning Support Network is changing its name to the Private
Manning Support Network, and will work on changing other
frequently used parts of its website and materials to incorporate
the name Chelsea and the female pronoun,” David Coombs’s blog
reads.
