Chelsea Manning offers to pay for hormone therapy during jail sentence

Army Private Chelsea Manning would be willing to pay for hormone therapy during her 35-year jail sentence at a men's military prison, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

Manning's attorney, David Coombs, told the AP that she will not expect sex-reassignment surgery, while hoping officials at the facility at Fort Leavenworth "will simply do the right thing" and reconsider an August 20 statement saying it would not provide the therapy.

"It was Chelsea's intent to do this all along," Coombs said to the AP. "It was only after Fort Leavenworth had said that they would not provide any sort of medical treatment that we decided not to wait."

Manning announced her identity and her intentions on August 22, the day she was convicted under the name Bradley Manning of leaking documents to WikiLeaks, saying at the time, "I am Chelsea Manning, I am a female. Given the way I feel and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible."

Coombs told the AP she waited until after the verdict was delivered to make her identity known to dispel accusations it was "an effort to get further attention."

[Image via Agence France-Presse]