Army to begin gender treatment for secrets leaker Manning

WASHINGTON National security leaker Chelsea Manning can get initial treatment for a gender-identity condition from the U.S. military, after defense officials initially said the Army didn't have the medical expertise needed to give Manning the best treatment.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel approved the Army's recommendation to keep the Army private in military custody and start a rudimentary level of gender treatment, a defense official said Thursday. The move follows the federal prisons bureau's rejection of the Army's request to accept her transfer from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to a civilian facility.

Manning's treatment request was the first by a transgender military inmate, and it set up a dilemma for the Defense Department over how to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy.

The initial gender treatments provided by the military could include allowing Manning to wear some female undergarments and also possibly provide some hormone treatments.

The decision raises a number of questions about what level of treatment Manning will be able to get and at what point she would have to be transferred from the all-male prison to a female facility.

In May, Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, had contended that civilian prisons were not as safe as military facilities. In a statement, he had said, "It is common knowledge that the federal prison system cannot guarantee the safety and security of Chelsea in the way that the military prison system can."

Coombs told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was encouraged that the Army will begin medical treatment.

"It has been almost a year since we first filed our request for adequate medical care," Coombs said. "I am hopeful that when the Army says it will start a 'rudimentary level' of treatment that this means hormone replacement therapy."

If hormone therapy is not provided, he said he will have to take "appropriate legal action to ensure Chelsea finally receives the medical treatment she deserves and is entitled to under the law."

Manning has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the sense of being a woman in a man's body. The Army tried to work out a plan to transfer Manning to a federal prison where she could get better treatment.

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Army to begin gender treatment for secrets leaker Manning