{"id":139620,"date":"2014-09-23T21:31:58","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T21:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=139620"},"modified":"2014-09-23T21:33:07","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T21:33:07","slug":"chelsea-manning-sues-pentagon-refusing-treat-gender-dysphoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/chelsea-manning-sues-pentagon-refusing-treat-gender-dysphoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Manning sues Pentagon for refusing to treat gender dysphoria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning filed a federal lawsuit against the United States military on Tuesday this week over the Pentagon\u2019s ongoing unwillingness to properly treat the former Army intelligence analyst for gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n<p>Manning, 26, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria \u2013 an incongruence between one\u2019s expressed gender and what&#8217;s assigned at born \u2013 no fewer than five times by military doctors during the four years she\u2019s been in Army custody for sharing a trove of sensitive government documents with the secret-spilling group WikiLeaks. Despite these repeated diagnoses, however, Manning\u2019s attorney say the soldier has received nothing close to what the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) \u2013 the leading authority on gender dysphoria, or gender identity disorder \u2013 advises with regards to treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Now after multiple requests and complaints \u2013 and in the midst of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/manning-sentence-years-jail-785\/\" target=\"_blank\">35-year prison sentence<\/a> handed down by an Army judge last year over the soldier\u2019s role with WikiLeaks \u2013 attorneys for Manning officially sued the US Department of Defense this week for what lawyers say is the Pentagon\u2019s persistent denial of access to medically necessary treatment concerning her gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n<p>According to the complaint, Pentagon officials have been far from forthcoming with respect to WPATH\u2019s recommendations. The lawsuit alleges that military brass starting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and down to the director of treatment programs at the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas disciplinary barracks where Manning is serving her sentence are responsible for violating the prisoner\u2019s constitutionally-rights by continuing to deny her treatment, and cite gender dysphoria experts who say staying on course could cause the symptoms of the soldier\u2019s condition to greatly worsen.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/pdf.yt\/d\/bahRV63hq5kWNKxI\/embed?sparse=0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThis action seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to redress Defendants\u2019 refusal to provide Plaintiff with medically necessary treatment in violation of Plaintiff\u2019s rights under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution,\u201d<\/em> Manning\u2019s attorneys write in reference to the provision that prevents the federal government from imposing cruel and unusual punishment. <em>\u201cDefendants have violated the Constitution by denying Plaintiff medically necessary treatment for her diagnosed gender dysphoria, a serious medical condition.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt has been more than four years since Plaintiff was first diagnosed with gender dysphoria by Army medical personnel and more than a year since that diagnosis was confirmed at the USDB [Disciplinary Barracks],\u201d<\/em> continues the complaint filed on Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. <em>\u201cEvery day that goes by without appropriate treatment, Plaintiff experiences escalating anxiety, distress and depression. She feels as though her body is being poisoned by testosterone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Specifically, Manning has asked during her confinement at Fort Leavenworth for hormone therapy and permission to grow out her hair, but her attorneys say she \u201c<em>continues to be denied treatment in the form of the real-life experience in that she is denied permission to outwardly express her female gender.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Defense Dept. does not provide hormone therapy to transgender inmates, and the Bureau of Prisons \u2013 the federal office that handles civilian correctional issues \u2013 has <a href=\"http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/article\/bureau-prisons-rejects-chelsea-mannings-transfer-request-army-begin-gender-treatment\" target=\"_blank\">rejected<\/a> a <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/158944-chelsea-manning-hagel-prison\/\" target=\"_blank\">transfer request<\/a>placed by the Pentagon earlier this year that aimed to move Manning to a non-military facility. Yet while some military officials have expressed willingness in recent months to provide Manning with sufficient care, the soldier\u2019s lawyers argue in Tuesday\u2019s filing that the result thus far remains well short of what is needed.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randi Ettner \u2013 an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of gender dysphoria, according to the soldier\u2019s attorneys \u2013 concluded after a recent visit to Fort Leavenworth that Manning \u201c<em>is experiencing significant distress and is at high risk for serious medical consequences, including self-castration and suicide, if such medically necessary treatment is not promptly provided.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAs a direct and proximate result of Defendants\u2019 purposeful and intentional actions, Plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer injury, including, without limitation, serious physical, psychological and emotional harm, mental anguish, distress, humiliation and indignity,<\/em>\u201d Manning\u2019s attorneys write.<\/p>\n<p>As of earlier this month, the complaint continues, the offerings at Fort Leavenworth have been well short of what should be required for any transgender inmate. On their part, the suit reads, military officials insisted in a memorandum sent earlier this month that the soldier has been \u201c<em>permitted to begin the \u2018real-life-experience\u2019 treatment by being issued female undergarments, specifically female underwear and sports bras.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cTreating severe gender dysphoria with sports bras is like treating a gunshot wound with a Band-Aid,\u201d<\/em>Chase Strangio, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a blog post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/blog\/free-speech-lgbt-rights-prisoners-rights-womens-rights\/what-happens-when-secretary-defense\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> by the ACLU this week. <em>\u201cSuch inadequate treatment sends the message to Chelsea and the rest of the world that the Army is not taking her health needs seriously.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Along with David Coombs \u2013 the civilian attorney who worked with Manning during the soldier\u2019s months-long court-martial last year \u2013 the ACLU has signed on to the lawsuit in hopes of forcing the Defense Dept. to provide Manning with what they consider to be medically necessary treatment.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c[T]he Constitution does not permit medical care to be provided sluggishly when it is urgently needed,<\/em>\u201d Strangio wrote. <em>\u201cAnd for Chelsea, the care is critical and the consequences for withholding it are dire.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I am proud to be standing with the ACLU behind Chelsea on this very important issue.&#8221;<\/em> Coombs said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/lgbt-rights-prisoners-rights\/aclu-demands-government-provide-chelsea-manning-necessary-medical-care\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a> published by the civil liberties group this week. <em>&#8220;It is my hope that through this action, Chelsea will receive the medical care that she needs without having to suffer any further anguish.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Manning supplied the WikiLeaks website with a trove of classified documents \u2013 including field reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs and State Dept. diplomatic cables \u2013 during her tenure as an intelligence analyst stationed near Baghdad where she served under her birth name, Bradley. One day after being sentenced to prison for the unauthorized<a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/manning-not-guilty-aiding-enemy-805\/\" target=\"_blank\">theft and disclosure<\/a> of those documents, Manning said in a statement read by her attorney that, \u201c<em>Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible<\/em>.\u201d She legally <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/154360-chelsea-manning-name-change\/\" target=\"_blank\">changed her name<\/a> to Chelsea Manning earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/190044-chelsea-manning-complaint-treatment\/\" target=\"_blank\">This piece<\/a> was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\" target=\"_blank\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning filed a federal lawsuit against the United States military on Tuesday this week over the Pentagon\u2019s ongoing unwillingness to properly treat the former Army intelligence analyst for gender dysphoria. Manning, 26, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria \u2013 an incongruence between one\u2019s expressed gender and what&#8217;s assigned at born \u2013 no [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1616],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-139620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-usa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}