Chelsea Manning, the convicted U.S. Army soldier formerly known as Bradley Manning at the heart of the WikiLeaks intelligence scandal, filed a federal lawsuit charging she has been denied medical treatment for "gender dysphoria," or rejection of one's gender at birth.
The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District court in Washington, D.C., named Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Maj. Gen. David Quantock of the Army corrections command, and Col. Erica Nelson, who commands the disciplinary barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Manning is being held,
according to The Guardian.
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Manning began serving a 35-year sentence last year after she was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks in what is believed to be the largest leak of classified material in U.S. history,
according to CNN.
The American Civil Liberties Union charged in the lawsuit that Army medical staff diagnosed Manning with gender dysphoria in 2010, an identity disorder where a person rejects the gender they were born with,
reported the Los Angeles Times.
Manning's suit wants the Army to follow through with hormone therapy, female grooming standards and access to a doctor trained to deal with her condition, noted the Times.
"The government continues to deny Ms. Manning's access to necessary medical treatment for gender dysphoria, without which she will continue to suffer severe psychological harms," Chase Strangio, an attorney with the ACLU Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender project, said in a statement.
"Such clear disregard of well-established medical protocols constitutes cruel and unusual punishment," said Strangio.
The lawsuit charged that the Army has not taken action on several requests from Manning to be treated as a female and follow through on treatment for gender dysphoria.
The Associated Press reported in July that Hagel has approved the Army's recommendation to give Manning rudimentary level gender treatment in military custody. The initial gender treatments could include allowing Manning to wear some female undergarments and also possibly provide some hormone treatments.
The Army had rejected a proposal to transfer Manning to a civilian prison to provide her specific treatment, despite at times saying it lacked the medical expertise needed, the AP noted.
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