Army Court rules Bradley (aka Chelsea) Manning must be refered to as a woman

An Army appeals court has ruled that the military must refer to Private Bradley (aka Chelsea) Manning as a woman in all future court proceedings and documents.

Col. Lorianne M. Campanella, Col. Eric Krauss, and Col. R. Tideman Penland of the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals said that “future formal papers filed before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by this court shall either be neutral, e.g., Private First Class Manning or appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun.”

“This is an important victory for Chelsea, who has been mistreated by the government for years. Though only a small step in a long legal fight, my co-counsel, Vincent Ward, Captain Dave Hammond, and I are thrilled that Chelsea will be respected as the woman she is in all legal filings," Nancy Hollander, lead counsel in Manning’s appeal, said.

“The court rightly recognized that dignifying Chelsea’s womanhood is not the trivial matter that the government attempted to frame it as.

"This is an important development in Chelsea’s fight for adequate medical care for her gender dysphoria. That fight continues but at least the government can no longer attempt to erase Chelsea’s identity by referring to her as male in every legal filing," Chase Strangio, staff attorney at ACLU and attorney in Manning’s lawsuit seeking medical care for his/her gender dysphoria, said.