Manning Would Pay For Hormone Treatment, Lawyer Says

By Mark Memmott

Published August 27, 2013 at 11:14 AM EDT

Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning on Aug. 20 (before her sentencing, demotion from private first class and announcement that she no longer wished to be known as Bradley Manning).

Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning is willing to pay for estrogen treatments that would lead to breast development and other female characteristics, the lawyer for the former Bradley Manning tells The Associated Press.

According to the wire service:

"Attorney David Coombs told The Associated Press on Monday that Manning hoped the military prison [Fort Leavenworth] 'will simply do the right thing' based on the request for hormone treatment so the soldier will not have to sue in military or civilian court. Coombs said at this point, Manning does not want sex-reassignment surgery and expects to be kept with men in the prison where she's serving time for leaking mountains of classified material to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks."

The 25-year-old Manning, a former intelligence analyst, was sentenced by a military judge last Wednesday to 35 years in prison for giving WikiLeaks more than 700,000 documents and other materials. The records included copies of diplomatic cables, battlefield reports and video footage of a U.S. helicopter attack in Iraq. The earliest she might be released on parole is the year 2020.

The day after the sentence was handed down, the soldier who until then had been known as Bradley Manning released a statement saying, "I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible."

As The Associated Press wrote, "Manning's struggle with gender identity disorder" was an issue at the court-martial. Manning's attorneys presented evidence about the issue and raised questions about why the Army allowed Manning to stay in Iraq.

Since Manning's conviction and sentencing, Army officials have said that Fort Leavenworth does not provide hormone therapy for its all-male prison population.

Also Monday, Coombs wrote on his blog that Manning has chosen the middle name Elizabeth. And, there was word that the "Bradley Manning Support Network" has changed its name to the "Pvt. Manning Support Network."