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Manning Ends Hunger Strike, as Army Agrees to Gender-Affirming Surgery

HeadlineSep 14, 2016

Imprisoned Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning has announced she’s ending her hunger strike, after the Army has agreed to provide her adequate medical treatment, including gender-affirming surgery. Manning is serving a 35-year sentence in the disciplinary barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after being convicted of passing hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks. She has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement and denied medical treatment related to her gender identity. On Tuesday, Chelsea Manning said in a statement, “I am unendingly relieved that the military is finally doing the right thing. I applaud them for that. This is all that I wanted—for them to let me be me. … I hope this sets a precedent for the thousands of trans people behind me hoping they will be given the treatment they need.”

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