The hunger strike is the latest manifestation of an increasingly tense relationship between the army private and her military jailers following her sentence in August 2013 to 35 years in prison for disclosing hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents.
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Previous year she was approved for hormone therapy after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria – the sense of one’s gender being at odds with the sex assigned at birth. “I still haven’t gotten any”, Manning said in her statement. If she cried, he would say, “Suck it up”.
“Today, I have decided that I am no longer going to be bullied by this prison-or by anyone within the USA government”.
She repeatedly requests the United States government to help her “demanding written assurances from the Army she will receive all of the medically prescribed recommendations for her gender dysphoria”. She said she had reached the decision after six years of military confinement in five difference locations during which her appeals for help had been “ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration”. I didn’t get any. Through Chase Stragio of the American Civil Liberties Union, Manning confirmed that she needs help but “not getting any”..
Manning even mentioned how her father treated her, sharing that her father would beat her “repeatedly for simply not being masculine enough” when she was a child.
According to Manning’s representatives, doctors have recommended that as part of her treatment for gender dysphoria the solider, who began hormone therapy in 2015, be allowed to follow “female hair grooming standards”. But, I couldn’t stop crying.
“I need help. Please, give me help”.
She is now suing prison officials to allow her adopt the military’s female grooming standards, including growing her hair longer, but Army officials continue to resist those efforts. This just worsened the pain. Until finally, I just couldn’t take the pain anymore. “No one is coming now”. She said that she has submitted a “do not resuscitate” letter which includes any attempts to forcibly cut or shorten her hair or feed her by any means..
“Today, I have decided that I am no longer going to be bullied by this prison-or by anyone within the US government”.
“She knows that people have questions about how she is doing and she wants everyone to know that she remains under close observation by the prison and expects to remain on this status for the next several weeks”.
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In the statement supplied by her ACLU attorney, Manning says the hunger strike will continue until she receives the “minimum standards of dignity, respect and humanity” and she is prepared for the possibility of dying. “I am ready for this”.
