Chelsea Manning, the jailed transgender Army soldier convicted of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, is demanding that the service give her "adequate treatment" for her "gender dysphoria" and recent suicide attempt.
Manning's supporters on Wednesday plan to unveil 115,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of the Army demanding the special medical treatment. They also want the Army to drop charges stemming from her July 5 suicide attempt.
In a statement alerting the media to the Wednesday event, the head of a group supporting Manning said that the military is mistreating the jailed soldier formerly known as Bradley Manning.
"Chelsea Manning is a human being who deserves to be treated with basic dignity and respect," said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, "The U.S. government's treatment of her will be remembered as one of the most shameful abuses of power in our nation's history. Everyone who cares about human rights should be speaking out against this cruelty and injustice right now."
Another supporter accused the government of "inhumane" treatment.
"Adding additional punishment on top of Chelsea Manning's already unjust sentence, and threatening her with indefinite solitary confinement for attempting to take her own life, is an egregious miscarriage of justice," said Kate Kizer, campaigner at Demand Progress. "The government's inhumane reaction to Ms. Manning's attempted suicide is part of an ongoing pattern of mistreatment that appears to be an attempt to silence Chelsea's important voice."
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com