Comments on: Bradley Manning's Lawyers Argue That Being Gay Under DADT Was A Factor in WikiLeaks Involvement

By: Valerie

Valerie — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:36:15 +0000

I agree with you so much! PFC Manning has been glorified for treasonous acts; the divulging of military secrets. Where people get all confused is that they assume the military is in some huge conspiracy that they hide things in classifications. No. I’ll say that again, No. The military classifies things to protect sources (how the information was gotten, usually people’s lives who are actively fighting against a hostile enemy) or to protect men and women from possible attack by keeping troop movements and the like out of the public sphere all together.

PFC Manning knew that the government was placing trust in him to protect its information. If he truly thought it was over classified (which happens) then an originator can de-classify the material. Believe it or not, all classified documentation eventually becomes public, ALL OF IT, just with enough of a time gap to allow events that the information could have affected to become moot. And the reason he had no clothes was because he made threats to kill himself, so yes, he had his clothes taken away.

The fact that he is trying to sweep his issues under the rug stating that DADT caused him such mental anguish that he felt the need to leak classified information is enough to rate multiple life sentences. He is deplorable and his attempts to argue DADT brings discredit to any gay/lesbian service member.

By: Elle

Elle — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:02:36 +0000

Hey Rachel, would it be possible to change Manning’s pronouns to Gender Neutral in this piece and perhaps say queer instead? Perhaps that would simultaneously address the issue of forced outing versus assuming they have a gay identity, or assuming PGP’s?

This is a tough one because while it is terrible to misgender them it would also be unfair to not give them the space they need to control when they come out.

just imho

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:02:15 +0000

Thanks for this. I’ve heard many different versions of Manning’s story w/r/t orientation/gender and I was wondering why this piece didn’t touch on this issue.

Here’s another article: http://globalcomment.com/2011/why-does-the-media-still-refer-to-%E2%80%9Cbradley%E2%80%9D-manning-the-curious-silence-around-a-transgender-hero/

By: Tonya

Tonya — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:51:38 +0000

Being a veteran from the Navy, I have a few opinions about this topic. I am a lesbian and served in the military for almost eight years. My first duty station was a shore side billet (meaning I worked on a base rather than a ship). The type of job that I had required me to have a very high security clearance, on top of dealing with a lot of sensitive information on a constant basis. The time period that I served was the tail end of the Cold War, and also the start of Iraq-Kuwait War. During my two years at my first command I saw a lot of information that would have been ripe for sharing, if I had that mindset to do that. Like any job that you may have in your life, there are things that do not leave the work space. I realize that information back then could not be “leaked” as it can be now, still classified information is still classified information. No matter what information it is!
I understand that what was on the video was not a very pretty picture of what’s going on over there, never is. I’m not defending what was done, however no one but whomever was in the helicopter knew the whole story, or even part of the story.
Now that Manning’s defense lawyer is pulling the stress of living under DADT made him do it is crap. I feel that it’s a cop out because they don’t have any other defense. He was in a sensitive position, knew the rules of what he worked with and made a decision to violate those rules. What would you think of him if the information that was leaked led to a family member being killed? Would you think that he was a great hero then?
This may all read like a rant, and partly is. Thing is, he broke the law and is now having to face that.

By: Sorcha

Sorcha — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:37:36 +0000

I am in love with Bradley Manning.

By: Remy

Remy — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:21:24 +0000

They’re not arguing that he cannot keep a secret because he’s gay, but that he cannot keep a secret because the military was forcing him to be dishonest about other things (i.e. about having gender-identity disorder).

I’m not sure what my feelings are about this, but at least this argument is less flawed than he’s gay and that’s why he cannot keep a secret. Right?

By: ginasf

ginasf — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:05:35 +0000

Just to clarify, Bradley Manning has revealed multiple times that their issue is Gender Identity Disorder (AKA therapist-ese for trans). That he continues to be ID’d as a ‘gay soldier’ is ignoring this part of Bradley’s issues are not just about being trans and that how he’s being punished is not just about being a gay soldier.

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/12/19/lawyers-say-bradley-manning-struggled-with-gender-identity-disorder/

And no, calling Manning a gay soldier does not cover having GID. And this aspect to Manning’s identity first appeared a year and a half ago at the GLBT site Bilerico.
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/06/wikileaks_source_bradley_manning_considering_trans.php

By: Naphtaline

Naphtaline — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:50:40 +0000

I think Bradley Manning is an ethical hero too. It’s impressive he or anyone had the courage to go against all the brainwashing about how ‘the army/brothers/comrades always come first’ to do what was morally right.
His situation is pretty close to the one of a political prisoner right now.

By: applecore

applecore — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:26:25 +0000

BAD GRAMMAR. PUNCH MYSELF IN THE FACE. Should be, of course, “My feelings about that are that…”

By: applecore

applecore — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:13:20 +0000

My feelings about this is that Bradley Manning is a hero for exposing war crimes, and that his being held without trial for nineteen months is woefully unjust. Obviously his queerness (whether his sexuality or gender identity) is relevant in that it must have influenced his psychological makeup, but I just really wish it was possible to simply argue that he was justified in leaking classified documents because the world deserved to know about the moral transgressions of the U.S. military.

By: dizzy

dizzy — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:16:15 +0000

Your last paragraph describes my feelings perfectly. It’s a shame the law forces the defence to argue things like gayness instead of being able to simply argue that Manning did the right thing.

Ok, then I do get what they are arguing. Well, it seems a little silly to argue that secret gayness makes you inherently capable of handling classified information. I am sure there are plenty of secret gay people in the military who are able to handle secret information without their secret gayness getting in the way.

For their argument to be successful then Bradley Manning’s secret gayness must have been so stressful to him he was psychologically unfit to handle secret information. Maybe it it’s true and Manning’s lawyers can demonstrate it’s true. But it’s not necessarily or ordinarily true, so I don’t have any objections to the prosecution disputing his argument in court.

By: terracottatoes

terracottatoes — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:49:16 +0000

i think the logic is:

gay guy -> DADT -> keeps gayness a secret -> secrets are stressful -> gay guy with secret gayness shouldn’t have had access to sensitive material (which must be kept secret) so, like, it’s kinda your bad, br0

whether this is sound reasoning (or if i’m inadvertently mischaracterizing it [entirely possible if not likely]) is anyone’s guess. it appears to be a stretch.

overall my feelings about the issue are: bradley manning did the right thing by whistle blowing. i’m not sure any of the rest of his blowing is relevant. also, war is bad in 99% of all cases. war is the failure of diplomacy, like how kids fight physically because they haven’t been taught to use their words. those are my feelings.