An image of Manning sent in a April 24, 2010, email coming out to her supervisor (Photo: Chelsea Manning, via U.S. Army file).
Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier behind one of the largest leaks of classified information in history, has begun a hunger strike to protest the military’s refusal to let her grow her hair as part of her treatment for gender dysphoria.
Manning began the hunger strike just after midnight on Saturday, Sept. 10, according to NBC News. She is currently serving a 35-year sentence at the all-male U.S Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for leaking classified information to the online site Wikileaks.
“I need help. I am not getting any,” Manning said in a statement. “I have asked for help time and time again for six years and through five separate confinement locations. My request has only been ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration.”
In addition to refusing any food or beverages other than water and her prescribed medications, Manning has also vowed not to cut her hair as the male inmates do. Although the Army began providing Manning with hormones last year after her lawyers sued, it has consistently refused to allow her to grow her hair beyond the length recommended for male prisoners. For many people with gender dysphoria, growing out one’s hair as part of embracing one’s gender identity is often considered a part of treatment, just as any hormone therapy or gender confirmation surgery would be.
The U.S. Army has not responded to requests for comment on Manning’s hunger strike.
Manning also revealed that she had submitted a “do not resuscitate” order, effective immediately, should she die in the course of her hunger strike. In a statement, she acknowledged the possibility of permanent incapacitation and death that could result if she continues the hunger strike and the Army refuses to budge from its position on allowing her to grow out her hair. Nonetheless, she insisted that the strike was a “peaceful act.”
“I intend to keep it as peaceful and non-violent, on my end, as possible,” she said in a statement. “Any physical harm that should come to me at the hands of military or civilian staff will be unnecessary and vindictive.
“Until I am shown dignity and respect as a human again, I shall endure this pain before me. I am prepared for this mentally and emotionally,” she continued. “I expect that this ordeal will last for a long time. Quite possibly until my permanent incapacitation or death. I am ready for this.”
Austin police are investigating whether an assault on a transgender woman and a male bystander at Barton Springs, a popular Austin swimming spot, was a hate crime. The incident occurred on July 26, when three men began flirting with the woman’s friends and then allegedly harassed her after she approached them.
"They said something along the lines of 'I don't support that lifestyle,' while pointing at me, which upset all three of us," said the transgender woman, whose name is being withheld for safety and privacy reasons, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.
For the second time, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from University of Wyoming sorority members who challenged the admission of a transgender woman, arguing that she did not meet the definition of the word "woman."
"Having considered the issues presented (again), we find that the majority of the claims must be dismissed on the grounds that this Court still may not interfere with the sorority's contractually valid interpretation of its own bylaws," U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson wrote in his ruling.
The case began in 2023, when six members of the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter sued the sorority for admitting Artemis Langford, a transgender woman, and allowing her to use the campus house’s common areas -- though not live there -- according to Wyoming Public Media.
The U.S. Air Force has issued new guidance, in two memos signed by interim assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs Brian Scarlett, detailing how transgender Airmen and Guardians will be involuntarily separated -- and denying them any chance to contest the decision.
Citing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's memo announcing compliance with President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to ban transgender service members, an Aug. 12 memo states that any Airman or Guardian with a diagnosis, history, or symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria will be denied a waiver and involuntarily separated.
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