Imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning has been awarded an honorary grand marshalship for this year's San Francisco Pride parade. The Associated Press reported Saturday that the organizing committee chose Manning to amend for the controversy that surrounded her nomination last year, which was later rescinded.
Manning -- who was born Bradley Manning, but announced during her trial that she is transgender -- is being held in Fort Leavenworth Military Prison for leaking confidential documents to the transparency website Wikileaks. The documents detailed civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and other alleged war crimes.
Parade organizer Gary Virginia told the AP that the committee erred in 2013 when it revoked the title of grand marshal from Manning. The decision, Virginia said, was mishandled.
The Chelsea Manning Support Network website greeted the news jubilantly and published a message from Manning that read, in part, "As a trans* woman, I appreciate the Pride movement’s significant role in bringing together diverse communities and elevating the public profile of the fight for queer rights. I have always enjoyed attending Pride celebrations given the opportunity, and I’m deeply honored to receive this title.”
The website noted that Manning included an asterisk after the prefix "trans" to be inclusive of people at all points on the gender continuum and who identify "outside of the gender binary."
