ABC News reported that the US military has somewhat gone soft with their stance on transgenders. It has been reported that convicted national security leaker and transgender Pvt. Chelsea Manning could get treatment for gender dysphoria. Manning has already secured an earlier victory towards legal recognition of being a woman when a court has granted permission for her to change her birth name Bradley to Chelsea.
Manning has been convicted of leaking classified documents to the anti-secrecy website, earning a 35-year prison sentence in the process. He is currently serving time at an all-male prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.
The Department of Defense had said that Manning's wish to get hormone therapy to aid with his transformation to become a woman could be granted. ABC News said that Manning's request was the first made by a transgender military prisoner, which is in conflict with the military's long-standing policy of transgenders. The department's comments followed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel approval to a request by Army leadership to evaluate potential treatment for prisoners who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Pentagon press secretary RDML John Kirby said about Hagel's approval, "The secretary approved a request by Army leadership to evaluate potential treatment options for inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria. No decision to transfer Pvt. Manning to a civilian detention facility has been made, and any such decision will, of course, properly balance the soldier's medical needs with our obligation to ensure Pvt. Manning remains behind bars."
Executive director Mara Keisling of the National Center on Transgender Equality insisted that there was no dilemma seen in Manning's case, at least, invoking the 8th Amendment's provision that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment to inmates.
"Chelsea Manning came out just after being convicted, when the DOD instantly said there was no way she could get treatment. We said, 'Yes, they will -- they are just wrong.' Now they have done an analysis and understand there is a Constitutional requirement to provide health care treatment for prisoners," Keisling said.
