The Tangle Over Chelsea Manning Growing Her Hair Out

The Department of Justice is coming to the defense of the Defense Department in fighting a lawsuit filed by Chelsea Manning, the convicted intelligence officer who is undergoing a government-funded and approved gender transition. 

As she made clear in a letter she wrote while behind bars, published in Truthout in September, she wants to grow her hair as long as that of female prisoners, who are housed separately from Manning and her fellow inmates at the military penitentiary in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Men — and Manning — are required to keep their hair no longer than two inches off the scalp. 

But prison officials forced her to cut her hair in September. Manning explained on Medium.com why she claimed in her lawsuit that her military haircut makes her feel like a “freak” and a “weirdo”:

“I felt gross — like Frankenstein’s monster wandering around the countryside avoiding angry mobs with torches and pitchforks.”

According to Gay Star News, she wrote she was left feeling “humiliated, hurt and rejected.” Manning said she “cried and cried and cried and sniffled a little bit, and then cried some more” and felt like giving up.

“Chelsea’s demand is simple,” said Chase Strangio, Manning’s lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Project. “That she be treated with her medically necessary treatment and like all other women in military custody. Her fight is central to the pursuit for justice for transgender people and for those who are incarcerated and we are honored to fight alongside her.”

Manning is currently serving a 35-year sentence for leaking sensitive documents to WikiLeaks.

The ACLU today released a copy of the brief filed by DOJ in support of the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. The brief endorses the motion filed by the DOD to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming Manning’s case has no merit. 

The DOJ made a case for how the federal prison is run and what might happen if Manning were to have a feminine hairstyle to match her changing appearance as a result of hormone treatment:

“Manning is not similarly situated to the female military inmates to which Manning compares herself. … Those female inmates are confined in different facilities with different grooming standards, whereas Manning is confined at the [United States Disciplinary Barracks], a military prison for men that has a uniform rule of no hair longer than two inches. Making an exception to the USDB’s generally applicable hair restriction would pose a significant security risk, and would undermine the USDB’s important military mission. “

The brief states that the colonel in charge of the prison — who in February approved Manning’s hormone treatments — was given a “recommendation that the wear of a feminine hairstyle is medically appropriate.” But after considering “all associated safety and security risks presented,” Col. Erica Nelson determined that “permitting Inmate Manning to wear a feminine hairstyle is not supported by the risk assessment and potential risk mitigation measures at this time.”

Justice officials wrote in their brief that Nelson’s decision to refuse her to let her grow out her hair “is substantially related to important governmental interests — i.e., ensuring safety and security within a military prison environment.”

The DOJ did not respond to The Advocate’s request for comment or to confirm its role in the Manning case. 

The ACLU issued a press release including a quote from Manning:

“I believe that defining ourselves in our own terms and in our own languages is one of the most powerful and important rights that we have as human beings. Presenting myself in the gender that I am is about my right to exist. What the government is basically telling me is ‘you cannot exist,’ that ‘you are wrong,’ and that ‘you do not exist.’ What they are doing is taking away our right to exist. I think this is the kind of situation that justifies all kinds of terrible things like ignorance, maltreatment, torture, murder, and genocide. 

“Nobody knows your gender more than you do. No—one. You do not know my gender better than I do. A doctor doesn’t know it better than me. My parents don’t know it better than me. No one experiences my gender in the way that I experience it. Gender presentation should reflect the person that you are. When you lose control of your gender presentation you lose an important aspect of your identity and existence.”

Read the Justice Department’s full brief, as provided by the ACLU, here.

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/11/13/tangle-over-chelsea-manning-growing-her-hair-out

Mormon Church Clarifies Position After LGBT Ban Sparks Outrage

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has clarified its position on LGBT couples and their children, a week after ruling same-sex couples were subject to excommunication and their children could be banned from being baptized.

In a public letter released Friday, the church sought to soften the blow of last week’s decree, though stopped short of actually reversing the decision.

Mormon officials clarified that children who have already been baptized won’t necessarily be penalized if they live with a same-sex couple, instead leaving that decision to local leaders who are instructed to act in the “best interests of the child.”

Children who have a gay parent, but do not live with the parent in their “primary residence,” are also exempt. 

“We are obligated to act… for the welfare of both adults and children,” the letter explains. “Adults who choose to enter into a same-gender marriage or similar relationship commit sin that warrants a Church disciplinary council.”

NBC reports hundreds of people have formally withdrawn from the Mormon church in protest since last week. Utah lawyer Mark Naugle, who offered his services for free to families needing assistance to do the same, says he’s been contacted by 1,700 people.

“All children are to be treated with utmost respect and love,” the letter concludes. “They are welcome to attend Church meetings and participate in Church activities. All children may receive priesthood blessings of healing and spiritual guidance.”

Also on HuffPost: 

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NCIS star Pauley Perrette, staunch LGBTI ally and activist, attacked in Hollywood

Actress Pauley Perrette was attacked on the street outside her Hollywood home on Thursday by a homeless man who threatened to kill her.

The staunch LGBTI activist and star of TV’s NCIS took to Twitter early Friday (13 November) to share details of the horrific attack.

‘I almost died tonight,’ she wrote.

The actress said she was walking to a guest house she recently bought to meet with an architect when she was jumped by a man who she described as ‘very psychotic.’

She wrote that he ‘repeatedly’ punched her in the nose and forehead and told her that he was going to kill her.

‘I was alone, terrified and trapped,’ Perrette wrote. ‘There was an empty garage behind me and I knew if he got me in there I was dead.’

The man repeatedly told Perrette that his name is William and only stopped the attack when she said to him: ‘William is a beautiful name. I have a little nephew named William.’

She collapsed on a sidewalk after he let her go and was able to text a neighbor who followed the man until police could arrest him.

The Los Angeles Police Department arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of felony battery. He is being held on $100,000 bail.

Perrette, 46, has played the brilliant but offbeat forensic scientist Abby Sciuto on the CBS drama NCIS since 2003.

Last weekend, she was one of the presenters at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Vanguard Awards. She is one of the most visible straight allies of the community with high-profile participation in the Los Angeles AIDS Walk each year as well an many other events.

The post NCIS star Pauley Perrette, staunch LGBTI ally and activist, attacked in Hollywood appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/ncis-star-pauley-perrette-staunch-lgbti-ally-and-activist-attacked-in-hollywood/

President Obama Speaks in Wake of Paris Terrorist Attacks: WATCH

President Obama spoke to the nation and the world this evening in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris.

Watch our continuing coverage of the attacks and their aftermath HERE.

Said Obama:

“Once again we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. This is an attack not just on Paris, not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on humanity and the universal values we share. We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance that the government and the people of France need to respond…”

Watch:

The post President Obama Speaks in Wake of Paris Terrorist Attacks: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

President Obama Speaks in Wake of Paris Terrorist Attacks: WATCH

Far-Right Leader: Move Texas GOP Confab From Dallas Because of Trans Protections

One of the leaders of the campaign to repeal the LGBT-inclusive Houston Equal Rights Ordinance now wants the Texas Republican Party to move its convention from Dallas, which has enacted a similar law.

The Dallas City Council this week clarified the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance by explicitly banning discrimination based on gender identity. Dallas’s long-standing ban on sexual orientation discrimination had been interpreted to cover gender identity, but activists pointed out the difference between the two characteristics and worked with the city to update the law.

But right-wing activist Jared Woodfill, using the same tactics that helped lead voters to rescind the Houston ordinance, is calling the Dallas measure “an aggressive and dangerous bathroom ordinance that allows men into women’s bathrooms” and urging the Texas GOP to find a different location for its 2016 convention, set for May 12-14 in Dallas.

In an email to his supporters, posted on his website and linked by Towleroad, Woodfill offers the same false information about the Dallas ordinance that Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has, saying it was adopted in closed session without public input. Woodfill also calls it “a threat to safety and freedom,” claiming it will facilitate sexual predators’ access to women’s restrooms and locker rooms — a totally discredited argument.

“We as a Republican Party now have an opportunity to send a message to the Mayor of Dallas and its City Council who are willing to sacrifice the safety of our wives, daughters and mothers on the altar of political correctness,” Woodfill writes. “We as a Republican Party have an opportunity to send a loud and clear message to the radical left by moving our 2016 Republican Party of Texas Convention from Dallas to another city. We should not reward Dallas with our business when its leaders brazenly reject the principles embodied in our 2014 Republican Party of Texas Platform.”

That platform endorses so-called reparative therapy, designed to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity; says “homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle”; and defines marriage as “a God-ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman.”

Woodfill, an attorney, also made news this week in a report that despite raising the specter of male predators in women’s bathrooms as a reason to oppose equal rights for transgender people, he is representing a man being sued for clandestinely photographing women changing during a pool party. He also voiced opposition to Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s efforts to bring back her city’s ordinance and said 300,000 calls have gone out to mobilize resistance to reviving the law.

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/politics/2015/11/13/far-right-leader-move-texas-gop-confab-dallas-because-trans-protections

A Look Back at an Out-Standing Year for LGBT Advocacy
Each year, OUT Magazine honors 100 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals who have made our world a more just and equal place. And on Wednesday, I had the privilege of accepting OUT’s “Ally of the Year” award on behalf of President Obama. We also celebrated the other 99 people who have changed our society for the better through art, politics, culture, sports and advocacy.

Since President Obama’s election seven years ago, he and his Administration have partnered with many on our journey toward a more perfect union, insuring equality for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Increasingly, our progress is part of a larger, global movement for LGBT equality that counts the United States as one of its leaders.

In 2009, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The same year, he also lifted the 22-year HIV/AIDS travel ban.

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act became law and less than a month later, the President signed a Presidential Memorandum extending hospital visitation rights for LGBT Americans. And at the end of that year, the President eagerly signed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” into law, remarking after ending the policy’s 17-year existence: “This is done.”

In 2011, the Department of Justice (DOJ) took the position that a central provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional and would no longer defend it in court.

In 2012, the President hosted the first International AIDS Conference in more than a generation and became the first sitting President to publicly support marriage equality.

In 2013, the Supreme Court agreed with the Administration’s position on DOMA and struck down a key part of that law.

In 2014, the President signed an executive order barring employment discrimination against LGBT individuals by federal contractors and subcontractors.

In June of 2015, the United States Supreme Court delivered a momentous victory by recognizing a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry — making marriage equality the law of the land — a position the President and Justice Department vigorously supported. We joyously celebrated the victory by lighting up the White House in rainbow colors. With our belief that love means love, there is now no such thing as same sex marriage; just marriage. And on Tuesday, the President was proud to announce his support for the Equality Act, a historic bill that would ensure comprehensive civil rights protections for millions of LGBT Americans.

Of course, none of these advances would have been possible without the efforts of the brave individuals recognized at the OUT 100 Gala and the many more who have worked to change hearts, minds and laws in favor of equality here and around the world. My dear friend Evan Wolfson, the former Executive Director of Freedom to Marry whom I met early in the President’s first term when marriage equality was the law in only four states, was honored for his decades of pursuing marriage equality litigation and advocacy that helped pave the way for this year’s Obergefell decision. Edie Windsor, whom I first met the day the Supreme Court argued Windsor and without whom marriage equality would not have been possible, was also honored. As was Abby Wambach, the recently retired captain of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, who after winning the World Cup, shared a kiss with her wife.

As hard as President Obama and his Administration have worked to expand opportunity and make this a more equal country, these accomplishments would not have been possible without the advocates, allies, activists and ordinary people doing extraordinary things, to change our culture every single day. In addition to using their voices and platforms to foster dialogue, understanding and legislative change, these honorees have also helped shape, for the better, how the LGBT community is perceived around the world — and how LGBT people see themselves. At the Out 100 event, with tears streaming down his face, a young man told me that seeing the President on the cover of Out Magazine gave him the courage to come out to his mother earlier that day.

In the American tradition of perfecting our union, they have followed in the footsteps of civil rights champions from generations past. As the President said in his second inaugural address, “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides is still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma and Stonewall.”

After a fun evening that capped an exciting seven years, I was also reminded of the President’s words following the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision in June: “Progress on this journey often comes in small increments, sometimes two steps forward, one step back, propelled by the persistent effort of dedicated citizens. And then sometimes, there are days like this when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.” It was an honor to help celebrate those who continuously strive to make the world a safer, more accepting and equal place for us all, and it is with excitement that we all rededicated ourselves to the important work that lies ahead.

Also on HuffPost:

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Ellen DeGeneres celebrates the 2,000th episode of her daytime talk show

Ellen DeGeneres celebrated the 2,000th episode of her daytime talk show Thursday (12 November) and was surprised by Jennifer Aniston and Justin Timberlake.

During her monologue, DeGeneres revealed that since the show’s debut in 2003, she has had 859,200 people in her audience, had 8,302 guests on and 1,445 bands and has danced 136 miles.

‘I’ll tell you something, if someone had told me I was gonna make 2,000 shows, first of all, I would’ve asked for a lot more money,’ DeGeneres joked. ‘I would have said, “You’re crazy.” 2,000 is a lot.’

At the time DeGeneres launched the show, her career was suffering. She had come out publicly as a lesbian in 1997 and later that year, ABC canceled her self-titled sitcom. She returned to series television in 2001 with the sitcom The Ellen Show but it only lasted one season on CBS.

The show has won 53 Daytime Emmy Awards so far and has been renewed through 2017 which will be its 14th season.

The post Ellen DeGeneres celebrates the 2,000th episode of her daytime talk show appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/ellen-degeneres-celebrates-the-2000th-episode-of-her-daytime-talk-show/

HRC Supporters Respond to Critical Non-Discrimination Provision of the Affordable Care Act

This week, HRC staff delivered 13,398 public comments from our members and supporters in response to proposed rule making by HHS implementing a critical non-discrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hrc-supporters-respond-to-critical-non-discrimination-provision-of-the-affo?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

President Obama Addresses the Nation in Wake of Coordinated Attacks in Paris: LIVE STREAM

President Obama is set to speak from The White House Press Briefing Room about the attacks in Paris tonight.

Live stream the President’s remarks below:

The post President Obama Addresses the Nation in Wake of Coordinated Attacks in Paris: LIVE STREAM appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

www.towleroad.com/2015/11/president-obama-addresses-the-nation-in-wake-of-coordinated-attacks-in-paris-live-stream/

What Is It Like to Be Cured of AIDS? A Conversation With the Berlin Patient

Portrait by Daniel Jack Lyons

When Timothy Ray Brown underwent a bone marrow transplant in Berlin during the winter of 2007, he was unaware of the historical significance that the surgery would later have. He hoped that the grueling procedure would free him from Leukemia, and he knew there was an unlikely chance that he could also be rid of HIV. Eight years later, Brown remains free from Leukemia and is still the only person on the planet to be cured of HIV. I met with Brown, and together we discussed the significance that this experience has had on him personally, his newfound role as a leader, and his hopes for impacting the world around us.

Being the only person in the world to ever be cured of HIV/AIDS must be quite an experience. And it seems it has launched you into the role of a leader and an activist. I’m curious to know where the story begins and if you have always considered yourself an activist.

I was an activist in ACT-UP in 1989 and 90 before I left the United States. I wanted to study in Berlin, which is what lead me there. Then, I tested positive for HIV in 1995. I had a partner at the time, who I met in Berlin and eventually moved to Barcelona with, and he told me that he didn’t want to know his status. He preferred not to know if he was HIV positive or negative. Its important to remember that even in 1995, testing positive was still considered a death sentence. There wasn’t anything available for treatment except for AZT and a couple other antiretrovirals.

Were you recommended to take AZT at that time?

Yes, my doctor recommended it, but I really didn’t want to do it because of all the known side affects, and perhaps even more so for the unknown side affects. But since it was the only treatment available, I agreed to try a low dose. And luckily the next year protease inhibitors and then the drug cocktail combinations came out and I was able to switch my treatment to those.

I did well for the next 11 years, and took a number of different HIV cocktail treatment regimens. Around 2006 I returned to the US for a friend’s gay wedding, and I remember feeling extremely fatigued. When I got back to Berlin it continued to get worse. I told my boyfriend, who took me to a doctor who diagnosed me with anemia. They started doing these blood transfusions but they didn’t really help, so I was sent to an oncologist. The oncologist did a bone marrow autopsy and discovered that I had Leukemia. Needless to say, I was shocked. I knew it was deadly and needed to get treated immediately so we discussed where I should go, and that’s when I was introduced to doctor Gero Huetter who, little did I know at that point, would became an integral part of my life and cure.

I read about your story a few years ago, but I was recently surprised to find out that you were cured of HIV as far as 8 years back. What has happened since then?

At first I was just basically recovering. And my former partner at the time, who I love dearly, strongly suggested that I take as much time as I needed to recover before even thinking of going public. But at some point I really began to feel the weight of being the only person in the world to be cured of HIV. I felt like I was in this very exclusive club, and I desperately wanted other people to join the club! I decided that I had to release my name and story to the public. It began with a German magazine called Stern who ran the initial story. I didn’t want to be interviewed again for another 6 months, and the next one was with POZ magazine in the US and it began to snowball from there.

At what point did this coverage shift your focus toward activism?

I had been doing some appearances and speeches since the first story ran. I met with the founders of the World AIDS Institute and together we decided to hold a press conference at the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC in 2012, where I would announce my interest in starting a foundation or a coalition in support of the effort to find a cure for AIDS. That’s really where it began because many of the international folks had never heard my story. Remember, I only came out as the Berlin Patient on December 8, 2010, so about a year and a half earlier. Many had never even heard that someone was cured. When we did the press conference, it was off site, and about an hour before we had to double the size of the room to accommodate all of the US and other media outlets from around the world. I think that’s when people began to see me as a potential leader. From there we began holding meetings and the idea of a Cure for AIDS Coalition really began to take flight.

Then from 2012 you have been searching for ideal partnerships to move this forward, is that right?

Exactly, which is how you and I met you through Dr. Shekdar of the Research Foundation to Cure AIDS.

Right, so can you tell me a little about how the search for partnerships has gone, and how you arrived at the Research Foundation to Cure AIDS?

To be truthful, as it relates to the Research Foundation to Cure AIDS, we were actually somewhat skeptical. You know, I have a pretty good bullshit meter and when looking into Dr. Shekdar’s biotech called Chromocell, it was puzzling because they have done amazing work on things like developing artificial tastes, and so I wasn’t too sure how this would pan out as it relates to a cure for HIV. And as you can imagine, it was quite a process to find the right kinds of organizations to partner with as it relates to our mission. It took from mid October of last year until now to gain the level of comfort that we’ve reached with the Research Foundation to Cure AIDS. We helped launch their organization in New York City in May of this year and we are thrilled with the opportunities of our working together. But in the end, the fact that he wants to build a coalition of both medical researchers and social scientists in the pursuit of a cure is exactly what we were looking for in a partner.

I understand that the long-term goal is to roll out a feasible cure for HIV, but what else does your organization, the Cure for AIDS Coalition, seek to accomplish in the more immediate future?

Our main goal is to foster an environment of collaboration, of working together and to stop the territoriality that we have witnessed happening over the past few years within the scientific, medical and AIDS community on the road to a cure for AIDS. Specifically, at the NIH cure meeting late last year, we officially launched the Cure Report, which is an information website and online database where people can go to if they want to learn more about AIDS cure research that is being conducted. We’ve listed all the HIV cure related studies by state and by country. It also acts as a discussion forum for prevention, treatment and the vaccine trials. Our overall mission is to focus on HIV cure awareness, education and support for full funding for HIV cure research. In essence we wanted to create a voice for a cure. The other thing we would like to kick off soon, is a CCR5 Delta 32 registry. Which is the genetic mutation that led to my being cured. In essence, my doctor who cured me, Dr. Gero Huetter, started the process to create a CCR5 registry it in Germany, and we would like to bring it to the United States and make it accessible to all HIV cure researchers around the world. It would also be a way for patients to participate in the process to find a cure for AIDS. Cure researchers are telling us that they are excited about our CCR5 registry idea, because accessing that kind of information has been a real barrier for some of the cure research moving forward. The other thing we would like to kick off is the first International Cure AIDS Day to help get out the word that a cure for HIV is possible and gather more support for the global effort. Those are the three main things we are working on right now. But it is just the beginning as it relates to our work under the Cure for AIDS Coalition.

For more information on Timothy Ray Brown and the Cure AIDS Report, visit Cure AIDS Report here

Portrait by Daniel Jack Lyons

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