

'I am Chelsea Manning,' says jailed soldier formerly known as Bradley - lawl
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/bradley-manning-woman-chelsea-gender-reassignment

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gamblor956
That's unfortunate. Access to hormones is generally considered a medical
treatment to which prisoners in federal civilian prisons are entitled (it
varies among the states), but the same rights do not necessarily apply to the
military justice system.

She may be Chelsea on the inside, but she's probably going to remain Bradley
on the outside for a very long time.

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leokun
Several of the reports of this story have been flagged off the home page,
probably because of the horrible comments that appeared in the discussions.
Trans-gender issues can be a complicated topic for people not familiar with
them and I worry that all the hateful things being said today are going to
take LGBT progress a few steps back.

I wish someone would fix commenting already. This is a problem that really
deserves fixing. Comment sections are some of the worst places on the
internet, even on sites that are otherwise usually OK. There is a need for a
startup to encourage smart and empathetic comments, and discourage anonymous
bile you can find pretty much everywhere, including places where real names
are required.

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saraid216
> Several of the reports of this story have been flagged off the home page,
> probably because of the horrible comments that appeared in the discussions.

I was wondering why I hadn't seen that flamewar here yet. Could you link me to
some of these? As someone who occasionally reads YouTube comments for fun, I
actually am interested in getting a more concrete sense of what such people
are saying.

> There is a need for a startup to encourage smart and empathetic comments,
> and discourage anonymous bile you can find pretty much everywhere, including
> places where real names are required.

[http://engage.cs.washington.edu/considerit/](http://engage.cs.washington.edu/considerit/)

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leokun
You read angry and hateful comments for fun or to make you feel good about
yourself because at least you're not that bad?

~~~
saraid216
Well, one: I am that bad. I just express it at different moments in different
ways. Two: it's educational. This kind of attitude comes _out_ of something,
and unless I intend to just kill everyone I don't like, I need to figure out
how to engage, neutralize, and rehabilitate attitudes that go beyond
disagreeable into being problematic.

And I don't intend to kill them all. So I'm just going to have to understand
them.

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ck2
Oh gosh. If her life wasn't hard enough already.

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VikingCoder
I don't care.

And as a progressive liberal, I'm proud that I don't care. I don't think any
of us should care. This should be roughly like announcing that you're no
longer a Catholic but a Protestant. It should not be news, and no one should
care.

That said, sure, yes, transgendered people still have a ton of problems in
society. But anyone who thinks this A) helps them or B) hurts them... is
probably wrong. I don't think this does anything for or against them.

Also, this is not news, to anyone who has paid any attention to Manning.

This is just circus, to everyone except those who personally know Manning. Or
who might, maybe, possibly, see her actions and decide to come out of the
closet with their own choices. So, for that, I guess, yay. But I really
sincerely doubt it. I suspect as many would see this, and decide to NOT come
out.

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lawl
I don't think/hope this helps/hurts them. But I hope Chelsea gets what she
wants. And a PR stunt might not be the worst idea considering her position.

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ape4
Maybe Brenda would be a better name.

