Disclosure: I testified for the defense at Chelsea Manning’s court-martial and served as her representative at SF Pride 2014.
In an August 29 New York Times op-ed on Wikileaks source Chelsea Manning, Jamie Kirchick writes:
Celebrating Chelsea Manning just a few years after gay and transgender people were permitted to serve openly in the military discredits the L.G.B.T. cause. Throughout most of the 20th century, homosexuality was associated with treason and used as a basis for purging gay people from government jobs, denying them security clearances and restricting their service in the armed forces. The decision by Ms. Manning’s defense team to argue that untreated gender dysphoria was a factor in her decision to leak classified information unwittingly aids those who say that L.G.B.T. people cannot be trusted in sensitive government jobs. And it dishonors the L.G.B.T. people who have served in the military throughout history without betraying their country.
Kirchick’s characterization of the defense’s arguments relating to gender dysphoria is overly reductive and omits crucial details of the case. While he implies that the defense should have refrained from presenting evidence regarding Manning’s dysphoria, this would have meant leaving out numerous relevant facts about her circumstances and the Army’s actions in the leadup to her arrest.
The defense was not making a general argument that untreated gender dysphoria can somehow predispose a person to leaking classified material, an argument that would indeed cast undue aspersions on all trans servicemembers and government employees. This was a specific argument focused narrowly on Manning’s chain of command, their awareness of her gender identity and the severe distress she was experiencing, their higher priority of ensuring that she remain deployable, and their resulting failure to act on these issues appropriately or ensure she received the necessary care. These facts were established at length during her pretrial hearing and court-martial. Continue reading
