An image of Manning sent in a April 24, 2010, email coming out to her supervisor (Photo: Chelsea Manning, via U.S. Army file).
Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier behind one of the largest leaks of classified information in history, has begun a hunger strike to protest the military’s refusal to let her grow her hair as part of her treatment for gender dysphoria.
Manning began the hunger strike just after midnight on Saturday, Sept. 10, according to NBC News. She is currently serving a 35-year sentence at the all-male U.S Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for leaking classified information to the online site Wikileaks.
“I need help. I am not getting any,” Manning said in a statement. “I have asked for help time and time again for six years and through five separate confinement locations. My request has only been ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration.”
In addition to refusing any food or beverages other than water and her prescribed medications, Manning has also vowed not to cut her hair as the male inmates do. Although the Army began providing Manning with hormones last year after her lawyers sued, it has consistently refused to allow her to grow her hair beyond the length recommended for male prisoners. For many people with gender dysphoria, growing out one’s hair as part of embracing one’s gender identity is often considered a part of treatment, just as any hormone therapy or gender confirmation surgery would be.
The U.S. Army has not responded to requests for comment on Manning’s hunger strike.
Manning also revealed that she had submitted a “do not resuscitate” order, effective immediately, should she die in the course of her hunger strike. In a statement, she acknowledged the possibility of permanent incapacitation and death that could result if she continues the hunger strike and the Army refuses to budge from its position on allowing her to grow out her hair. Nonetheless, she insisted that the strike was a “peaceful act.”
“I intend to keep it as peaceful and non-violent, on my end, as possible,” she said in a statement. “Any physical harm that should come to me at the hands of military or civilian staff will be unnecessary and vindictive.
“Until I am shown dignity and respect as a human again, I shall endure this pain before me. I am prepared for this mentally and emotionally,” she continued. “I expect that this ordeal will last for a long time. Quite possibly until my permanent incapacitation or death. I am ready for this.”
The United States Tennis Association, the national governing body for tennis in the United States, has quietly banned transgender athletes from competing in women's events.
As first reported by independent journalist Marisa Kabas in her newsletter The Handbasket, the USTA revised its "Player Eligibility Policy" page on October 25 with no prior warning or public announcement.
Under the revised policy -- which applies to all sex-specific junior and adult leagues, tournaments, and competitions, whether Olympic, professional, or recreational -- only athletes who meet the USTA's definition of a woman or girl may compete in events designated for women or girls.
Ahead of Transgender Day of Remembrance on Thursday, November 20, Advocates for Trans Equality, a national organization, released a report honoring the 58 known transgender people who have died in the United States over the past year.
First held in 1999, Transgender Day of Remembrance was initially intended to mourn those transgender people lost to violence. The first organizers memorialized Rita Hester, killed in November 1998 in Boston, and Chanelle Pickett, murdered in November 1995 in Watertown, Mass.
Since that first memorial service, cities and regions throughout the world have adopted November 20 as a day to commemorate transgender and nonbinary individuals who have died -- whether due to murder, suicide, or natural causes.
The Trump administration is working to bring a transgender woman back to the United States after immigration officials wrongly deported her in violation of a federal judge's order.
Britania Uriostegui Rios, a Mexican transgender woman who came to the U.S. in 2003 and later became a lawful permanent resident, lost that status in 2023 after pleading guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon, according to The Guardian.
She received a suspended sentence for the assault conviction, then was sent to a men's immigration detention facility as officials prepared to deport her to Mexico.
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