No Filter: Chelsea Manning Leads The Revolution Straight Into My Heart

Welcome back to No Filter, your once-weekly stroll through the gardens of queer celebrity Instagram. This week, the fine folks at Oh No They Didn’t decided that Gaby Dunn and Stephanie Beatriz are probably dating, which would be really excellent for this particular column so I’m crossing my fingers. If you are reading this, Gaby (and you are reading this), get to work. Also, Amandla Stenberg selfishly opted out of participating in this column and Cara Delevingne wore a shirt with her own face on it.

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I took a solemn vow that this week I would only post images that made me happy, so here is Gaby Dunn freaking out over a puppy.

Is that PATTERS?!?!?!?!?!

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I feel a great deal of Instagram potential from this pairing.

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You know who belongs in this column? Chelsea Manning, forever always amen.

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Evan Rachel Wood is trying to get back into my good graces by experimenting with different camera angles in her Instagram videos but I have not forgotten about Avril Lavigne; we are still in a fight.

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A post shared by Samira Wiley (@whododatlikedat)

I have no idea what Samira Wiley is doing in this cool motion capture contraption but whatever it is, it’s probably adorable.

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A post shared by Daniel Lavery (@daniel_m_lavery)

I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING.

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Holiday is the hero this planet needs right now.

Join us next week, hahahaahahaha what could happen NEXT week?!?!?

Some Really Actually Good News: Obama Commutes Most of Incarcerated Trans Woman Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

With less than three days left in office, President Obama commuted much of Chelsea Manning’s remaining prison sentence. Manning is set to be freed in May 2017 instead of finishing her 35-year sentence which would have ended in 2045.

Manning, an army intelligence analyst, was convicted of a military leak in 2010 that shed light on abuses of detainees carried out by Iraqi military working with American forces and showed civilian deaths in the Iraq war were much higher than officials suggested, among other secret information. Manning made the files public in order to incite “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms.” Wikileaks made the information known and was how the group came to prominence.

Prosecutors charged Manning with multiple counts of the Espionage Act as well as “aiding the enemy,” which later was dropped. Manning pleaded guilty to many of the charges brought against her in hopes for leniency in her sentencing but instead was met with the harshest punishment for a leak case.

“I take full and complete responsibility for my decision to disclose those materials to the public,” Manning wrote in her clemency application. “I have never made any excuses for what I did. I pleaded guilty without the protection of a plea agreement because I believed the military justice system would understand my motivation for the disclosure and sentence me fairly. I was wrong.”

She received a 35-year sentence and has been incarcerated at a male military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which has proved to be more tortuous punishment for Manning since coming out as a trans woman.

She endured solitary confinement for 11 months during her pretrial confinement at Quantico and then was denied treatment from the prison for her gender dysphoria even though military doctors diagnosed her since 2010. After the ACLU pressured the military to allow Manning to live her life as a woman, they only allowed Manning to take hormones, wear women’s undergarments and some makeup, but have not allowed her to grow her hair longer than the male military-standard haircut and have not given her access to a surgeon that she can talk to about possible bottom surgery. All these factors have made it extremely difficult for Manning to live her truth as a trans woman. In the past year alone, Manning has attempted to kill herself twice. To add insult to injury, she was punished for her suicide attempt in July with solitary confinement.

In November, Manning applied for clemency, desperately asking Obama to commute her sentence to time served so that way she has a chance to live. “I have spent almost all of my adult life either homeless, in the military or in prison,” she wrote. “I haven’t had the chance to live my life yet.”

Last week, NBC News reported that Manning was on Obama’s shortlist for commutation. As President, Obama is granted power under the US constitution to fully pardon individuals who have been convicted of crimes, or to commute their sentences. Since November when Manning applied for clemency, many have urged Obama to commute Manning’s sentence saying it would solidify his legacy as “standing up for trans people’s rights.”

“The Obama administration has done many commendable things to protect the rights of LGBTQ people, but in the case of Chelsea Manning they have systematically mistreated her and denied her access to medically recommended gender-related healthcare,” Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer who represents Manning, told the Guardian. “Chelsea won’t survive another five years in prison, much less another 30.”

It’s still unclear how Obama’s decision may play out in regards to Wikileaks founder, accused rapist and seeming Russian hacking sympathizer Julian Assange, who has previously said he would allow himself to be extradited to the US where he would face prosecution if Obama granted Chelsea Manning clemency before his term ended. Currently Assange is “within the confines of the Ecuadorean embassy in London,” where he has sought political asylum for the past five years. At this time neither Assange nor Wikileaks have issued a statement.

As Friday fast approaches and our country’s impending doom under a Trump presidency will come to actualization, this was one of the last good things Obama could’ve done for us and for Chelsea Manning. He saved Chelsea Manning’s life and allowed her time to live, live, live — free from the confines of a male prison and out in the world as a trans woman. Credit goes to the trans citizens and activists who have worked tirelessly for Manning’s safety and freedom for many years now.

Rebel Girls: 16 Women and Girls Who Shook the World in 2016

Header by Rory Midhani

It’s that time again! Time for me to remind you of the baddest bitches who made waves this year. Here’s 16 women or groups of women who gave me and you and everyone we know some life in this, the darkest of years.

Author’s Note: 16 is not a lot of people. PLEASE DON’T GET MAD AT ME! It’s important to note that I try not to include people from the years before, although I’m (spoiler alert) including Hillary Clinton because fuck if I won’t. Also, if I egregiously overlooked your fave, leave a comment and let me know! 

America Ferrera

John Leyba/The Denver Post

America Ferrera was one of many young women who came out in full force for Hillary Clinton during this campaign, and she brought with her the perspective of a feminist Latina. Ferrera was also honored at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Global Women’s Rights Awards this year (I was there! I met Retta!) for her activism in the Latinx community this year. Honestly, I was upset when they made Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants because nobody had ever stolen my name in a contemporary film before. But if I have to share it with anyone, I’m damn proud it’s her.

Brittani Nichols

Can you believe Suicide Kale came out this year? THIS YEAR! And it’s been screening around the world because that’s how Brittani does things: right, and brilliantly, and in a way which overshadows everything you’ve ever done. Also, Brittani released an EP this year and it was dope. Also, Brittani really is hilarious. Also, Brittani Nichols makes every single year of my life and probably yours better, let’s be real.

Chelsea Manning

via Flickr user torbakhopper

Chelsea Manning hasn’t stopped fighting, even while serving time for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks. This year, Manning fought against her mistreatment by military officials by going on a hunger strike. She appeared on a podcast with Amnesty International and talked about her life as a trans woman and the solitary confinement she was being unfairly subjected to as a military prisoner. In response to a year in which she attempted suicide, activists rallied around her and petitioned the White House to commute her sentence. As Trump gets closer to snagging the White House keys, activists are once again urging President Obama to end her sentence — as both a statement on her human rights and a precedent for how America treats its patriotic whistleblowers moving forward. Manning has elevated the discourse, through pain and personal tumult. For that alone, she is a hero.

Constance Wu

(Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Constance Wu of Fresh Off the Boat spent the year confronting racism and sexism in the industry. I know she doesn’t wanna be an “it” girl, but she’s definitely a Rebel Girl of the Year and she can’t do anything about it. (Unless she reaches out and asks me to remove her from this list. I would oblige, I’m kind.)

Elizabeth Warren

(Photo by Aram Boghosian/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Elizabeth Warren rose to prominence during the 2016 Presidential Election as a pillar of progressive leadership in the Democratic Party, and when Hillary Clinton became the first-ever woman nominee from a major party she turned out in full force without pause or hesitation and became a Nasty Woman for the herstory books. Now, in the wake of the election, she is someone we can rely on to fight as hard and scream as loud as possible about Trump’s fuckery.

Lady Gaga

Chris Keane / Reuters

She wore a pantsuit to the American Music Awards. She wore a suffragette outfit on election day. She cried in her car on election night. She rallied and hit the trail for Hillary Clinton. She spoke at the LA vigil for Orlando. She led an anti-Trump protest in New York. She spent time over Thanksgiving with queer homeless youth. She did the work. Look, I held a grudge against Lady Gaga for a long time. Now I’m ready to forgive her. In a year when we needed feminism and we needed it more than ever, she brought it back in full force.

Leslie Jones

The New York Times

When the Ghostbusters reboot came out, men quite literally lost their damn minds. Having women recast as the ghost-fighting protagonist goofs basically ate up the entire media cycle during the earlier months of the year. But for Leslie Jones, the political got really personal when she started being trolled by racist, sexist pieces of human garbage on Twitter. In response, she spoke up and out. And then she dipped. In the process, she got one of the far right’s biggest human shitbags kicked off of the social network and sparked another round of discussion about how we can keep marginalized folks safe from hate speech online.Thankfully, in advance of this shitstorm, she live-tweeted the Rio Olympics and gave me life.

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres, perfect human and America’s lesbian sweetheart, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year and we all wept. You wept, right. Weep with me right now, please.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton this year became the first woman to be a major party nominee for president, the first woman to win a state in a general election, the first woman to win an electoral vote, and the first woman to win the popular vote in a presidential election. The fact that she is not the first woman president will never not shake me to my core. I don’t care if you like her. I love her. She meant something to me and to millions of women. She ran an unabashedly feminist campaign as an openly female candidate. She stood tall even when she shared space with the toxic abusive dirtbag who went on to steal her dream. I’m never going to get over this. I miss her presence in the news and on Twitter and in office banter every single day. I will fight to build the country she knew was possible until my body is lowered into the ground inside of a life-size animal fries container by my enemies. And I will never fucking stop hanging pictures of her in my office.

Hillary Clinton was the Rebel Girl of 2016. And as much as I want to write off this year as fucking painful bullshit, as dark as it has been since election night, as much as I wish I could stop crying on the way home from work, I don’t actually want to forget one fucking second of it. I don’t want to forget the moments before election night when it felt possible, imminent even, that a woman would finally be president. But not even “a woman.” Her. Hillary Fucking Rodham Fucking Clinton. I’m pouring out a drink for her as you read this, probably. Or maybe I’m watching her speeches on YouTube and weeping. Or maybe I’m fighting like hell to remember her, to remember the hope and the certainty that progress lay ahead.

If I could have written a version of this post naming only Hillary Clinton 16 times, I would. Instead, I wrote some end-of-year lists and a few eulogies for her campaign and cried in my car! I think both plans were strong.

Jen Richards

When Jen Richards launched Her Story, a web series about trans women in Los Angeles, she changed the media landscape. The show, which this year became the first indie web series nominated for an Emmy, became evidence of the powerful impact media can have when it tells trans stories right — as well as a rallying call for an end to hiring cis men to play trans women. In addition to making media history with the series, Richards has spent the year rabble-rousing, on- and off-line, for trans rights and representation. She’s a badass, in short. And in the years to come, I am confident we’ll only hear more and more about the good work she’s doing and the real community impact it has.

Martha Raddatz

CNN

If you didn’t watch the presidential debate moderated by Martha Raddatz and come away from it unsure whether you wanted to date Martha, Hillary, your partner, or all of them simultaneously in a polyamorous arrangement that makes everyone happy and fulfilled, I don’t know you anymore.

The San Antonio Four

After waging a 20-year battle for their freedom and innocence, four Latina lesbians from San Antonio wrongfully accused of sexual assault in 1997 were exonerated this year by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. By fighting for justice, Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, and Anna Vasquez shined a light on institutional racism and homophobia and affirmed their right to exist.

Sarah McBride

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sarah McBride this year became the first trans person ever to speak at a major party convention. It was incredible. She’s amazing. Also, we bumped into each other at the DNC for the first time in years and it was cute.

Standing Rock’s Water Protectors

via the one and only Molly Adams

Native American women built the movement shaking the nation to its core at Standing Rock, which shouldn’t surprise anyone since women have been at the helm of pretty much every important fight in this nation’s history and the world’s history but nobody ever remembers them. Let’s remember them and follow their lead in organizing peacefully as we move forward.

The Women of the 2016 Rio Olympics

The 2016 Olympics in Rio featured an abundance of badass female athletes, and they showed the fuck up. Women set records in Rio left and right, and they excelled across events. Katie Ledecky beat her own record. Simone Biles took home a gold and become the most decorated American gymnast and the record-holder for the most gold medals won by an American in women’s gymnastics at any Olympic games, ever. Allyson Felix won two gold medals, becoming the woman with the most golds in track of any nation. Simone Manuel was the first African-American to win gold in the 100-meter freestyle.

Overall, the U.S. teams came back from Rio with 121 medals — and women won 61 of them. (Five of them, it should be noted, were in mixed events, so women technically won more medals than men. That’s feminism!) The Rio Olympics, though, were unique in their feminism not just because of the women who won, but because of the women who competed and who were part of the ceremonies. A trans woman performed at the opening. Ibtihaj Muhammad became the first athlete to compete at the games in a hijab. Feminists carried the Olympic torch. It was a time, y’all. A simpler time. Were we ever so young, hot, and impressive? Real question. I’ve blacked out all of my joy.

The Firsts

Catherine Cortez Masto via Bill Clark/Getty Images

It’s looking like we’re not gonna get to watch Hillary Clinton make her acceptance speech. Or an inaugural address. Or a State of the Union. It breaks my heart into pieces (see above), and it will never be okay, but we did make a lot of history this year regardless. On what I’ll likely remember as the darkest election night in history and perhaps the darkest moment in my life, there was light. There was hope.

On November 8, six women made history. Kamala Harris became the first Indian-American to be elected to the Senate. Catherine Cortez Masto will join her there as the first Latina in the body. Tammy Duckworth will soon be the first woman with a disability to serve in the House. Kate Brown became the first elected LGBTQ Governor. Women like Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar made history at the state level, and others like Misty Snow and Misty Plowright may not have been victorious but made history just by being in the running.

Since the election, record numbers of women have expressed interest in running for office. They say you have to be asked, what, three times? So here you go: Run for office. Run for office. Run for office. Be the first. Be the second. Be the third. Be the fucking new world order. Give me someone to celebrate in 2017 when I’m covering the Trump impeachment trials.

Rebel Girls is a column about women’s studies, the feminist movement, and the historical intersections of both of them. It’s kind of like taking a class, but better – because you don’t have to wear pants. To contact your professor privately, email carmen at autostraddle dot com. Ask questions about the lesson in the comments!

Chelsea Manning is Missing, and Incarcerated Trans Women in Texas Are In Danger [UPDATED]

feature image via shutterstock

In the latest chilling news regarding incarcerated whistleblower and trans woman Chelsea Manning, Chelsea’s legal team says they’re unable to reach her, and have been since at least Oct 4th. She’s missed several planned calls, and family, friends and her legal team have not been able to contact her. They’re describing her as missing, an alarming development after her suicide attempt in July and subsequent sentencing to solitary confinement as punishment (she was sentenced to two weeks, but had one week suspended). As Jezebel says, “Military officials have not issued any statement explaining her whereabouts.”

https://twitter.com/chasestrangio/status/785176322792235008

SIXTH day of no calls from Chelsea. We *still* have *no idea* what is going on. We continue to be very worried. https://t.co/0ORLZdVHgS

— Chelsea Manning (@SaveManning) October 10, 2016

A few states away from Fort Leavenworth, KS, where Chelsea Manning is being held, another incarcerated trans woman is also in danger. The Texas Observer covered the case of Vanessa Gibson, a trans woman incarcerated in Gatesville, TX who “alleges that TDCJ’s refusal to provide her with gender confirmation surgery violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, because the procedure has been deemed medically necessary by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.” Gibson’s suit was dismissed. When the Observer article about the case was shared on Facebook, it received several comments from users who appear to be Texas Department of Criminal Justice correctional officers deriding Gibson, encouraging her to self-harm, and threatening violence to her.

A user named Dakota Hoffman posted a comment reading “Let the fucker suffer” on the article about Gibson. Hoffman’s profile identifies the user as a TDCJ corrections officer, and Hoffman’s account shared the story from the Facebook group Texas Correctional Employees – Huntsville. “One to the back of the head,” added another user, Francois Jean-Baptiste, whose account also self-identifies as belonging to a TDCJ corrections officer. In addition to identifying themselves as TDCJ employees in their Facebook profiles, Hoffman and Jean-Baptiste are listed under the job classification “Corrections Officer III” in the Texas Tribune’s database of state employee salaries.

A spokesman for the TCDJ says that this behavior isn’t indicative of a systemic issue with treatment of trans women in Texas prisons — even though at least two other trans women incarcerated in Texas, Taylor Hearne and Passion Star, have petitions or lawsuits in place alleging that correctional officers have deliberately ignored threats of violence and sexual assault against them and retaliated when they objected to being strip-searched in front of men.

“She has filed dozens of grievances, complaints and requests to be placed in safekeeping, but instead of taking measures to protect her, TDCJ officials have told her to ‘suck dick,’ ‘fight’ or to stop ‘acting gay’ if she does not want to be assaulted,”according to the LGBT civil rights group Lambda Legal, which is representing Star in the lawsuit.

Chelsea Manning is a high-profile prisoner whose case has made headlines for years; most Americans will never know the names of Vanessa Gibson, Taylor Hearne, or Passion Star. But their harrowing treatment at the hands of the prison system continue to show us clearly how dangerous incarceration is for trans women — who, despite OITNB, are almost always housed with men — and how crucial it is for those of us outside the prison to maintain pressure on the criminal justice system for their safety and humanity.

UPDATE: Chelsea Manning’s lawyer reported that she has been located. She was in “disciplinary segregation” (code for solitary confinement).

We spoke to Chelsea.She had been in disciplinary segregation. Now out and ok. She thanks all for love and support.We will monitor situation.

— Nancy Hollander (@jujitsulawyer) October 11, 2016

Chelsea Manning Ends Hunger Strike, Makes History as Army Says She Can Access Transition-Related Care

feature image via torbakhopper

On September 9th, incarcerated people around the US began the largest organized political action by prisoners in US history with a general work strike. Chelsea Manning, imprisoned for 35 years by the US military for violating the Espionage Act by leaking military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, began a hunger strike. She shared that her suicide attempt earlier this year was driven by lack of treatment for her gender dysphoria, and she declared a hunger strike until she received the medical treatment she was due.

“Today, I have decided that I am no longer going to be bullied by this prison—or by anyone within the U.S. government. I have asked for nothing but the dignity and respect—that I once actually believed would be provided for—afforded to any living human being.”
“I do not believe that this should be dependent on any arbitrary factors—whether you are cisgender or transgender; service member or civilian, citizen or non-citizen. In response to virtually every request, I have been granted limited, if any, dignity and respect—just more pain and anguish.”
“I am no longer asking. Now, I am demanding. As of 12:01 am Central Daylight Time on September 9, 2016, and until I am given minimum standards of dignity, respect, and humanity, I shall—refuse to voluntarily cut or shorten my hair in any way; consume any food or drink voluntarily, except for water and currently prescribed medications; and comply with all rules, regulations, laws, and orders that are not related to the two things I have mentioned.”

Now, Manning’s hunger strike has ended; Army officials have reportedly told Manning that she can receive gender affirmation surgery, and her lawyers say she was “shown a treatment plan that included information about surgery and the medical team necessary to move forward with that surgery.” She will also be allowed to wear her hair long, as is her preference, although allegedly she will be forced to keep cutting it until her gender affirmations surgery, and can only wear it long afterwards. All of this information is only coming through Manning’s lawyers, as the army has refused to confirm or comment directly on the decision.

Manning’s statement was of relief, and also frustration at the lengths she was forced to go to to obtain medical treatment:

“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. But it is hard not to wonder why it has taken so long. Also, why were such drastic measures needed? The surgery was recommended back in April 2016. The recommendations for my hair length were back in 2014.”

Although the military’s communication with Manning is good news, there are still concerns and challenges ahead. It’s not clear how quickly the army will move on Manning’s treatment plan; there’s no way to know when her surgery might actually occur, and as Manning told Vice, “Until then, I must live with the humiliation and pain.” As Vice points out, transgender inmate Shiloh Quine was granted a lawsuit settlement involving the state of California paying for her gender confirmation surgery over a year ago; she’s still waiting on it.

Manning also still faces potential charges related to her recent suicide attempt; she’s scheduled for a hearing on Sept. 20 to discuss whether her attempting suicide should be classified as “misconduct,” for which she would be punished, with the possibility of solitary confinement. Even with the possibility of appropriate medical treatment on the horizon, Chelsea Manning still faces harmful and dehumanizing treatment as an incarcerated person.

Unending relief: .mil does right thing; just let me be me https://t.co/wO8Nf1xwMx #hungerstrike (Still being charged w/ suicide attempt)

— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) September 13, 2016

Although questions still remain about when and how Manning’s gender affirmation surgery will proceed, this decision by the military remains a very important precedent. No US prison inmate has ever received gender affirmation surgery while incarcerated; Flor Bermudez of the Transgender Law Center told ABC that she hopes other prisons will become more likely to grant trans prisoners the same access to treatment.

“We hope that this is an example for other jurisdictions, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons, who are currently drafting medical guidelines and transgender-specific placement policies, to issue policies that allow for this medical treatment to be available,” Bermudez said. “We have been arguing that it is constitutionally required…. The Transgender Law Center supports the advocacy that has been done on behalf of Chelsea, because the military has been trying to prosecute her for an attempted suicide, which is specifically a symptom of their own causing,” Bermudez said.

Chelsea Manning’s legal team is continuing to pursue the issue of Manning being allowed to wear her hair the way she prefers, and hope that “all charges related to her suicide attempt and the investigation that followed are dropped.” You can sign a petition asking that Manning not face charges related to her suicide attempt here.

Chelsea Manning Hospitalized With No Explanation, Denied Access to Lawyers

Obviously a major story today is the deaths at the hands of police of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. We’ve covered this in a story earlier today and will have more writing on it coming soon — this link roundup also includes the developments in those stories that have happened since noon EST.

Chelsea Manning Hospitalized With No Explanation

+ Chelsea Manning was taken to the hospital from the United State Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she is incarcerated — but it’s hard to say exactly why. Manning’s lawyers say they weren’t notified about her hospitalization and haven’t been allowed to be in touch with her.

“We’re shocked and outraged that an official at Leavenworth contacted the press with private confidential medical information about Chelsea Manning yet no one at the Army has given a shred of information to her legal team,” said Nancy Hollander, lead attorney on Manning’s defense team, in a statement.

Vague sources, seemingly beginning with a tweet from CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz, had apparently told the media that Manning was hospitalized due to an attempted suicide attempt but neither the military nor Manning’s lawyers have confirmed that. Fort Leavenworth’s spokesperson suggested that one reason Manning’s lawyers may not have been notified was that “…the military’s notification policy depends on the seriousness of the person’s condition, suggesting Manning’s condition was not life-threatening.” Manning’s legal team’s full statement can be read here. Reportedly the military has told them that they earliest they can speak with Chelsea is on Friday.

Aftermath of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile’s Deaths

+ Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds, who survived along with her four-year-old daughter what was a deadly police interaction for her boyfriend Philando Castile and even managed to record it, spoke outside of the Minnesota governor’s mansion today.You can watch the full video of her remarks here.

Diamond Reynolds, Philando Castile’s girlfriend being consoled as she talks about her boyfriend’s shooting death. Jim Mone/AP

Reynolds also reported that she and her four-year-old daughter were taken into custody after Castile was shot and killed, where they were separated from each other and couldn’t access food or water.

+ Philando Castile’s coworkers in St. Paul remember him with love.

‘Kids loved him. He was smart, over-qualified. He was quiet, respectful, and kind. I knew him as warm and funny; he called me his ‘wing man.’ He wore a shirt and tie to his supervisor interview and said his goal was to one day ‘sit on the other side of this table.’

+ President Obama has responded to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile on Facebook.

+ Beyoncé has written an open letter after the two men’s deaths with a call to action.

Election

+ Sources are saying Bernie Sanders is expected to endorse Hillary Clinton this Tuesday, with some saying he was “swayed” when she added elements of his higher education policy to her platform.

+ Hillary announced an addition to her platform that involves “[eliminating] tuition at in-state public colleges and universities for families with annual incomes up to $125,000”, a policy that many are saying was influenced by Bernie Sanders’ campaign, which called for a similar change.

+ Today in sadly unsurprising news: Donald Trump supporters “more likely than other Americans to describe Black people as “criminal,” “violent,” “less intelligent,” “rude” and lazy” as compared to Whites.”

Police/Violence

+ The lawyers for the four remaining officers who have yet to stand trial for their part in Freddie Gray’s death attempted to have the judge dismiss their cases altogether, but the judge has refused, and they will in fact stand trial.

+ Baltimore brought a new use of force policy into effect for its police officers on July 1, which emphasizes deescalation and “the sanctity of life.” From Colorlines:

• Increased reporting requirements for incidents that involve force, including a form for when officers point a gun or flash a Taser’s current
• A focus on quickly deescalating incidents
• Officers must step in if their colleagues are using excessive force
• Officers have a duty to provide medical aid or immediate hospital transport

+ New York’s Riis Beach has historically been a haven for the LGBT community, with a looser approach to alcohol and nudity than most seaside destinations. On July 4, beachgoers said it didn’t feel like much of a haven — there was a heavy police presence all day, “on horses, in uniform, undercover”, and their presence culminated in the arrest of Krys Fox, a gay photographer who said that he had wrapped a towel around his waist to cover himself while his wet swim shorts dried off, and when the towel accidentally slipped, “six uniformed officers and several undercover plainclothes officers carried Fox off the beach as he screamed, ‘Help me.'” Fox reports he spent three hours in a cell wearing a paper gown, was issued five tickets, and was released and sent home without any clothes.

+ More information on the life and death of Ronnie Shumpert, who was brutally killed after being pulled over in a routine traffic stop.

Smith said he may have run from the traffic stop because he knew the potential for police interactions to escalate. “I think he ran out of fear,” she said. “I think he ran truly out of fear. That’s one thing he didn’t want to deal with is the police, because of the police brutality that goes on nowadays. He just wanted to stay clear of the police. His thing was, ‘I just want to get a job, work and take care of my family.’ That’s all he wanted to do.”

+ As of July 5, American police forces have killed 582 people — a number which has to be painstakingly researched and recorded by communities, activists and journalists, since the government doesn’t record that information. A disproportionate number of people killed are of color, especially Black and/or Native, and many are mentally ill. What happened to the police officers involved in those deaths? Well:

According to the Wall Street Journal, 2015 saw the highest number of police officers being charged for deadly, on-duty shootings in a decade: 12 as of September 2015. Still, in a year when approximately 1,200 people were killed by police, zero officers were convicted of murder or manslaughter, painting the picture that officers involved in killing another person will not be held accountable for their actions.

Grab Bag

Roger Ailes and Gretchen Carlson (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)

+ Gretchen Carlson, longtime Fox News anchor, has revealed that she’s no longer with the network and says that it’s because she turned down sexual advances from Roger Ailes, head of the network.

In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in New Jersey’s Superior Court in Bergen County, where Ailes lives, Carlson alleged that Ailes began “ostracizing, marginalizing, and shunning” her when she refused to have a sexual relationship with him and complained of her treatment by Ailes and former “Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy. The eight-page lawsuit alleges that Ailes violated the New York City Human Rights Law. When Carlson met with Ailes to discuss the discriminatory treatment to which she was being subjected, Ailes allegedly stated, “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better,” according to the complaint, adding that “sometimes problems are easier to solve” that way.

+ On Monday a bombing was carried out at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, a holy site for Muslims around the world. At least four people were killed in the explosion.

+ Members of the Obama administration, including Obama himself, will no longer visit colleges or universities that fail to effectively address sexual assault.

+ A piece on how while some attempts have been launched to more fully integrate NY’s school system, there’s a failure to organize a comprehensive top-down effort.

…no comprehensive plans have emerged from City Hall or theEducation Department. The schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, has said she wants to avoid mandates in favor of proposals that bubble up from schools and local communities “organically.” That approach, say critics like Councilman Ritchie Torres, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx, amounts to tinkering around the edges of a dense and vast problem.

+ Conservative UK leader Stephen Crabb claims he doesn’t support “gay cure” therapy, although his office employed interns through the Christian Action Research and Education group, which advocates for “ex-gay” treatment and “has funded internship places for young people to be placed with MPs as researchers or interns.”

+ A candidate for governor in Missouri, Eric Greitens, has been giving out “ISIS hunting permits,” and the local Muslim community is very worried that it will empower non-Muslims to harass and assault them.

“When [people] get a bumper sticker saying ‘Here’s your permit to attack ISIS,’ and they see a young Muslim lady at Wal-Mart, and they’re like, ‘This is ISIS, I’m going to attack them,’ that’s when the real trouble begins,” Faizen Syed, spokesperson for the Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told FOX 2 news. Indeed, threats, violent assaults, protests, airport profiling, and instances of vandalism directed at the American Muslim community have risen in the wake of ISIS-affiliated terrorist attacks, even though the Muslim victims are not known to have any connection to the murderous group.

+ Two churches in Iowa are suing the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which includes public accommodations protections for transgender people, saying that the law could force the churches to accept trans people and allow trans people to use the bathrooms that correspond to their gender in their church, and that this makes the Iowa Civil Rights Act unconstitutional.

+ The Obama administration has announced it is imposing sanctions on Kim Jong-Un personally in response to “grave human rights abuses.”

+ Justin Trudeau told reporters Canada is “considering” a gender-neutral option on ID cards.

+ A group of women won a class-action lawsuit against Macy’s after they found they shared similar stories of being detained in what seemed like jail cells inside of Macy’s when employees accused them without any evidence of shoplifting, having their phones and personal items confiscated, and not being allowed to leave until they paid Macy’s $100. It seems Macy’s practices primarily targeted women of color.

Faruk Usar of Usar Law Group, who represents Reyes and Moftah, said: “We’re just starting. There will be discovery to see how many people have gone through this experience. We are seeking all the money Macy’s collected to be returned.” The court enjoined Macy’s from “demanding, requesting, collecting, receiving, or accepting any payments” that connect with the statutes from suspected shoplifters while detained in Macy’s custody.

+ The FBI is now investigating the case of a black man found hanging from a tree in Piedmont Park after social media users demanded a further investigation. Police found there were “no discernible signs of a struggle or foul play” and a medical examiner concluded “the death was consistent with a suicide.” However in the wake of the shooting deaths of two black men in within the last 24 hours, Twitter users expressed outrage and called it a “another modern-day lynching.”

Daily Fix: Mansur Ball-Bey Killed by St. Louis PD on Anniversary of Kajieme Powell’s Death and More News

Black Lives Matter

+ This news fix, like almost every one we’ve published since we began doing news roundups in this way, contains stories about black Americans being killed by police officers over the past few days. In light of that fact, please take some time to read Gene Demby’s piece on How Black Reporters Report on Black Death at Code Switch, where he talks to a range of reporters to look at the effects the seemingly neverending phenomena of police brutality is having on black journalists who cover it.

“Today, a lot of us occupy desks in national newsrooms at a time when questions about policing and race have become arguably the biggest story in the country. At the same time, many of us are puzzling out what it means to be black reporters reporting on black death in an industry that’s traditionally operated like this: Some people tell the tough stories (white, upper middle class, mostly male), and other people have tough stories happen to them. It’s an industry that’s long boasted a nebulous ideal of “objectivity” without considering that the glaring homogeneity of its ranks helps make that claim believable.”

+ The mayor of Somerville, MA, Joe Curtatone, has hung a Black Lives Matter banner from City Hall. Curtatone has said that he hopes to equip Somerville police officers with body cameras within the next year, and is working with Black Lives Matter organizers to realize “intensive anti-racism training” for police officers and other staff.

Police/Violence

+ Detroit prosecutors announced that there will be no charges filed against officers in the death of Terrance Kellom, a 20-year-old who was killed by ICE officers inside his home. Prosecutors claim that Kellom attacked officers, and that blood spatter evidence proves that “Terrance Kellom continued to advance despite being shot already.” Kellom’s family says that he was unarmed, and was reaching out towards his father when he was shot.

+ Mansur Ball-Bey, an 18-year-old black man was killed by St. Louis police today, as a few miles away people gathered to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Kajieme Powell. Ball-Bey is reported by police to have run away, along with another unidentified man, as the police came to execute a search warrant for stolen guns; the two men are alleged to have fired at police as they ran. Ball-Bey had just graduated from high school a few months ago.

Protesters who were already gathered to mark the anniversary of Powell’s death arrived at the scene, along with Jerryl Christmas, the attorney for the family of VonDerrit Myers, also an 18-year-old black man shot by police in St. Louis.

“We need to focus on these areas that are deprived. I mean, look around,” Christmas said, pointing to vacant lots and abandoned buildings.

Some at the scene confronted police and questioned statements by Dotson. Robert Phillips, 30, was angry after hearing the police account that the dead man pointed a gun at officers.

“They always say that,” Phillips said.

Protests are reported to have “erupted” in St. Louis last night, with a reported 150 people gathering. Nine were arrested, and police are reported to have used tear gas, even in quiet residential areas.

+ Radazz Hearns, a Trenton 14-year-old who was shot seven times by police as he was running away, has been released from the hospital. He faces “extensive rehabilitation,” and is being charged with gun possession and assaulting officers. The handgun that officers say Hearns was in possession of wasn’t found until 12 hours after his arrest. His family had created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his medical expenses, but it was removed by GoFundMe after charges were filed against Hearns because “Campaigns in defense of formal charges of violent crimes are not allowed on GoFundMe.”

+ An Ohio police officer, Bryan Lee, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for forcing women to perform sex acts during traffic stops. He was also revealed to have posted on Craigslist using a false name advertising for “traffic stop sex” and trying to find someone whose fantasy was “a cop you must (expletives) to get out of being arrested.” A woman who was a passenger in a car that Lee pulled over also reported that he had later used Facebook to try to get in touch with her, telling her that he had seen her in public and described the outfit she had been wearing.

Presidential Race

+ Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, the two top-polling Republican candidates, both held Town Hall meetings this week. The timbre of both events seemed decidedly different, and so were their policies — Trump emphasized his interest in building another, better wall between the US and Mexico, while Bush emphasized Trump’s lack of credentials as a conservative and his own openness to the Latino community in contrast to Trump’s racist remarks.

But Mr. Trump’s freewheeling performance left some voters wanting, with many in the crowd still shopping for a candidate. One man, who told Mr. Trump that he went to his website and found the lack of policy descriptions unsatisfying, wanted more detail. He did not get much.

“Are you a member of the press?” Mr. Trump said jokingly.

“I actually think the press wants the policy, the so-called policy positions more than the people, if you want to know the truth,” he added, eliciting some groans from the crowd.

But he reassured the man that whatever his policy is, it will be a first-rate one.

“When it comes to policy, I’m going to give you wonderful policy positions,” Mr. Trump said.

+ Scott Walker, in what appears to be a last-ditch effort to be taken seriously outside of Wisconsin, seems to be giving himself and his campaign an attempted Trump makeover.

Mr. Walker offered as Exhibit A an exchange he had had with a heckler just hours earlier at the Iowa State Fair: “I’m not intimidated by you, sir, or anyone else out there,” he had shouted, before turning to the crowd and saying: “You want someone who’s tested? I’m right here.”

Mr. Walker’s team was so pleased with the tussle, which may wind up in a television ad, that a top campaign aide joked that he would have paid the heckler to show up.

+ In an ongoing investigation into emails related to her office and their levels of secrecy and security, Hillary Clinton says that emails and other data on her computer were wiped clean before the device was given to federal authorities.

Order in the Courts

+ Chelsea Manning, who was charged with possessing contraband like an expired tube of toothpaste, has been found guilty of the charges. She will not be placed on indefinite solitary confinement, a potential sentence for the charges, but will be given 21 days of recreational restrictions. The conviction occurred in a closed-door hearing without legal representation for Manning, and will be a factor in any future hearings for parole or clemency, potentially adding years and/or heightened security to her sentence.

+ From a press release, we learned that Denicia Macklin, an African-American lesbian, has filed a workplace harassment suit against Dunkin’ Donuts. The suit claims that at both the Union Square and East 14th locations of Dunkin’ Donuts, Macklin was subject to unwanted sexual touching, denied payment of wages, and experienced comments about her appearance being “masculine.”

+ As the conclusion to a long legal battle that brought up questions of when language is offensive and to whom, all-Asian-American band the Slants has won the legal right to trademark their own band name.

Who is making the decisions about the name? Is it a group of people or what?
It’s been the same examining attorney every time. His name is Michael Shriner — a random white attorney. So for the first five years they did not speak to a single Asian about the issue. In fact, we had a governor-appointed board of Asian-American leaders here in Oregon say, “How come you’re not talking to representatives from our community?” They wrote back and said they were committed to diversity and had Asian-Americans who worked at the Trademark Office. That was their response—that they had Asians in the building, not that any of them worked on the case. And the big irony of it can be really prominent when you think about the actual court system itself. When we had the oral hearing first time around in the federal circuit, the courtroom consisted of the attorneys, who are all white, and if I were to go there I wouldn’t be allowed to talk. It would be a bunch of white people debating what’s offensive to Asians. That’s our legal system.

The Slants

+ In Kentucky, a legal battle continues to rage as Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis continues to deny same-sex couples marriage licenses because of her religious beliefs. In a confusing decision, US District Judge David Bunning denied Davis’s request to delay a ruling ordering her to issue marriage licenses, but agreed to delay his own decision about the delay. Until this is resolved definitively, “no new wedding can be legally recognized in Rowan County unless the couple obtain a marriage license somewhere else.”

+ A 25-year-old gay man is filing a lawsuit against the NYPD, claiming that he was beaten and had slurs yelled at him during Pride 2014.

According to the suit, Jacob Alejandro, a health educator from Brooklyn, was leaving the parade with a group of friends around 7:30 p.m. last June 29th, when a police officer “forcefully pushed” him to the ground near the corner of Christopher Street and Weehawken Street. While Alejandro lay on the ground bleeding, one police officer allegedly yelled, “Get the fuck up you faggot.” Multiple officers then allegedly “violently piled on top” of Alejandro and proceeded to arrest him, ignoring his requests for medical attention.

+ A Missouri court of appeals has ruled that a Kansas City lesbian can seek custody and visitation of her twins despite not being the gestational parent.

“Today’s ruling is a great victory for Missouri’s children,” Cathy Sakimura, family law director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a written statement. “Every family deserves legal protection and respect. The court recognized that the law should support families, not destroy them, and that children benefit when they can receive love and support from both parents.”

Law of the Land

+ The death penalty has been ruled unconstitutional in Connecticut, effectively pardoning the 11 people on death row there.

+ California is now the first state in the US where grand juries will no longer be used to decide issues of police violence, due to the fact that they “tend to be secretive, aren’t subject to oversight and rarely indict officers.” Instead, it will be up to prosecutors to pursue charges against police officers accused of excessive force. On the one hand, prosecutors are elected by the public, which in theory means they are more accountable; on the other, 79% of US prosecutors are white men and only 5% are people of color, so.

+ The Missouri House of Representatives tentatively floated an idea that they should have their interns adopt a dress code to keep them from being sexually harassed (as opposed to, you know, having House staffers not sexually harass them). Unsurprisingly, this idea has not been popular, and House Speaker Todd Richardson has 86’d it.

Grab Bag

+ Many of us are more familiar than we’d like to be with highly sexualized advertising, very violent advertising, or as a jackpot, advertising that’s both. A new study claims that this kind of advertising is terrible at actually selling things.

The Ohio State University-based researchers knew that sexual and violent emotional cues demanded more cognitive resources than less generally arousing cues, meaning that there was less brain space to process what the ad was selling.

“It never helps to have violence and sex in commercials,” said co-author Brad Bushman, a professor of communication and psychology at OSU in an interview with Bloomberg. “It either hurts or has no effect at all.”

+ A man has been arrested in Kansas after carrying a small explosive device into a women’s health clinic.

+ A trial investigating a potential rape at the prestigious St. Paul’s School has spotlighted the school’s many generations-old traditions, many of which seem to revolve around the sexuality of young female students. Owen Labrie, a high school senior already accepted at Harvard, sought out a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old as a “senior salute,” a St. Paul tradition; the female student says that when she wasn’t interested in having sex, Labrie raped her. Labrie had also told police that he was “trying to be No. 1 in the sexual scoring at St. Paul’s School.”

+ The White House has hired its first openly transgender staffer in Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, who will serve as Outreach and Recruitment Director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Freedman-Gurspan was formerly working at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Raffi Freedman-Gurspan

+ The NYT looks at the situation for US envoys abroad with same-sex partners, who face complicated international legal situations regarding their spouses and families if they need to live abroad for their jobs.

+ Madame Tussauds has said it will redesign its wax figure of Nicki Minaj after visitors to the museum have posted photos online of themselves posing inappropriately with the figure.

“It is unfortunate that this visitor decided to behave so inappropriately and we apologise for any offence this has caused,” the museum said. “We do have staff monitoring guest behaviour in the attraction and do our utmost to ensure our wax figures are treated respectfully, but on this occasion clearly one of of our hosts was not present.”

+ The new mayor of Venice, Italy has attempted to ban 49 children’s books that he thinks “risk confusing children,” including books about same-sex families. After an outcry, he reduced the list to two books, which both feature same-sex families.

+ Mavis Amponsah, a 41-year-old Ghanian woman, attempted to file for asylum in Israel as soon as she arrived there on a tourist visa on the basis that she was unsafe in her home country due to her longterm relationship with a woman. However, her application was rejected, apparently on the basis that the committee found “contradictions” in her statements, including a previous relationship with a man (although Amponsah says she’s been with her female partner for more than 20 years).

Committee chair Avi Himi noted that Amponsah hadn’t attempted to meet any women or “act on her alleged preference” since arriving in Israel, and that this is “contrary to what might be expected of someone fleeing persecution for a sexual preference,” according to Haaretz.

+ We already know bisexual people are more likely to struggle with poverty, poor mental health, and substance abuse, and that bisexual women are at disproportionately high risk of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Now a new study from the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne — the same study that finds that more young people than ever are identifying as not straight — says that bisexuals have “lower life satisfaction”.

+ The European Film Industry has adopted a declaration calling for greater gender equity in the film industry, addressing the fact that “women are considerably underrepresented in key job roles in the film industry.”

Chelsea Manning Faces Possible Prison Transfer In Complex Case of Transphobia

by Mey and Maddie

This week, Pentagon officials announced that they’re considering transferring the incarcerated Chelsea Manning from a military facility to a civilian one, ostensibly so that Manning can pursue hormone therapy. The Pentagon’s reasoning is that she can’t be given medical treatment specific to her status as a trans woman according to military policy because the military doesn’t allow trans people to serve, and so if her status were recognized Manning would need to be discharged. Manning’s attorney, David Coombs, has released a statement explaining his skepticism about this transfer and what benefit it might offer Manning.

Manning’s transfer to a civilian facility would be, according to Coombs, unprecedented – the only people who have been transferred from military to civilian prison in the past have been discharged before the transfer, and Manning can’t be discharged because her appeals process hasn’t even begun. However, the Pentagon claims that they can’t treat her themselves because transgender people can’t serve openly in the military, so to treat her would be grounds for discharge, which they can’t do while she’s still serving jail time. The Pentagon’s unwillingness to deal with Manning’s reality and health needs reeks of transphobia and transmisogyny.

The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was lauded as a huge win for the LGBT community, but it completely left trans military members behind. Although US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said that they are “reviewing” the idea of letting trans soldiers openly serve, they aren’t taking any real steps to make the military more trans friendly. This mistreatment of Manning shows that despite this rhetoric, they don’t really seem that committed to change.

Portrait of Chelsea Manning by Alicia Neal

Manning is in a tight spot. Not only does she have to deal with the military’s transphobia and transmisogyny, but she also has to deal with the same thing coming from prison industrial complex in which she is imprisoned. All things considered, it’s not that surprising that Manning is being denied hormones. Things are getting better for trans inmates, with more and more receiving the medical attention that they need, but many are still denied.

Allowing trans people to serve openly in the military would make it harder for the military to deny trans people medical treatment they need, which would be a huge victory for trans people, especially for those who are already enlisted. However, it’s important to note that trans inclusion in the military poses specific challenges for trans people. The US military, as a whole, provides lots of jobs for Americans, particularly for people of color and poor people. However, working in the military puts people at risk of homelessness after returning home, as well as sexual violence, injury and death in while enlisted. Trans people already experience higher rates of all of these things outside the military, and it’s likely that trans people who serve in the military will, or already do, experience higher rates of homelessness and sexual violence.

It makes sense that Manning’s lawyer is wary of the Pentagon’s offer. If a client’s health had been ignored and her life were being risked because the military refuses to deal with trans prisoners in a real way, most people would be. Now, instead of trying to help her themselves, the military seems to be passing her off so that they can continue to mistreat trans prisoners in the future. The military claims it does not have the expertise to offer Manning treatment in the military facility, which seems like a thin assertion. Manning noted this in her statement about the possible transfer:

“I wish to clarify that my request for a treatment plan did not involve any request to be transferred. At the beginning of 2014, the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, KS and the Army Corrections Command were ready to approve and implement a treatment plan that at least conservatively met the standards set forth by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. I was content with this plan. Based on these facts I don’t understand why the Office of the Secretary of Defense would feel the need to punt this issue by transferring me.”

If Manning herself does not see her transfer as necessary, and if she has already gotten indication from military authorities that she could have suitable treatment while in a military facility, it seems like there are other, more discriminatory motives at work. Coombs noted in a statement that Manning’s safety would be in greater jeopardy in a civilian facility and that this leak is a tactic from the Pentagon, “intended to strong-arm Chelsea into backing down in her requests for medical treatment, ironically using the same method (leaking information) that sent Chelsea to prison for 35 years.” Her lawyer has said that if she remains in the military prison, they plan on challenging their denial of treatment in court.

It does seem like in Manning’s case, being under military jurisdiction offers her much worse health outlooks than being in a civilian prison (although she would face many other challenges and dangers in a civilian prison, as trans women always do). The civilian prison would give her the proper medical care, but it looks like the military is completely unwilling to change the way they do things and actually provide trans-inclusive healthcare. While it would obviously be worse for Manning to remain in military custody (as she would be continued to be denied healthcare), it might be better for other trans women down the road. Her lawyer has said that if she remains in the military prison, they plan on challenging their denial of treatment in court. They say that denying her hormone therapy is a violation of the 8th Amendment protections against “cruel and unusual punishment.” A lawsuit like this could force the military to change its policies and adopt modern treatment methods for any trans people that they imprison in the future.

This is also a continuation of the trend of the criminalization of trans bodies (which Laverne Cox mentioned in her speech at Creating Change). Although this is mainly true of black trans women in the US and Latina trans women globally, it does extend to all trans people in some cases like this one. Trans women are often arrested essentially for existing. They’re arrested for using the bathroom, for accepting a car ride and for defending themselves. Then they’re are thrown in jail (often a men’s jail), often placed in solitary confinement and often denied healthcare.

Manning has health needs that are purposefully not being met. The military knows what needs to be done to make her healthy, and they are actively not doing that. Even more, their solution for the problem and how to avoid getting in trouble is to wash their hands of her. It’s time for the military to step up and figure out that it needs to start treating its trans soldiers with some respect. While it would be a huge victory for Manning if she is able to get the healthcare she needs, her being able to access the healthcare she needs by being moved to a civilian facility ends up allowing the military and prison systems to become better equipped to incarcerate trans people. If the prison system can better hold trans people, it will expand to hold more trans people. The way it seems in this situation is that Manning’s number one barrier to getting the healthcare she needs is that the military prioritizes her incarceration over her humanity.

Queer View Mirror: Five Important News Topics We Talked About in 2013

There’s a post going around Tumblr right now that pretty accurately sums up how I feel about this year. It’s one of those unformatted, semi-snarky text posts clearly designed to get a lot of notes, but I can’t deny identifying with the sentiment: “2013 was my character development year which means 2014 is strictly action and story progression and i dont know about you but i’m excited.”

That’s also how I feel about much of the work that was done in various queer communities this year: There was a lot of development and organizing and education and campaigning and so, so much important vocalizing of needs. We may not have gotten everything accomplished that we wanted to, but in many spheres, from reproductive rights to same-sex marriage to conversion therapy to trans* visibility, we’ve set the stage for real, concrete change in 2014.

I thought it would be a good exercise for this first edition of my weekly news column, Queer View Mirror, to reflect on some of the biggest things that happened in 2013 — what we were talking about, good and bad, for the last 12 months, and what we can reasonably expect to hear a lot more about in 2014. After this, QVM will be a recap of a single topic that’s been in the news that week, including historical background and some more forward-thinking stuff. But for now, let’s talk character development!

1. DOMA Dies, Everyone Puts a Ring On It

Windsor outside the Supreme Court when it heard oral arguments in March 2013. Via Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images.

When my home state of Illinois was considering legalizing same-sex marriage in May, it would have been the tenth state to do so. By the time it finally did in November, it was the fifteenth. Adding New Mexico and Utah, which both legalized marriage via court ruling this month, makes eight U.S. states where same-sex couples can get married today that couldn’t one year ago. Marriage is definitely not the be-all, end-all of equality for LGBTQ people, but for many, it is a legal status critical to protecting their families. For others, it’s simply something they want to do, and barring them from it is becoming increasingly legally indefensible. There’s also something to be said for how legalized discrimination — and the lack thereof — impacts public perception of said group.

The impetus behind legalization in many states has been the collapse of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal act prohibiting same-sex unions, which was defeated largely by this June’s Supreme Court ruling in the case of Windsor v. United States. We’ve written quite a bit about the story of Edie Windsor and her wife Thea Spyer, who upon her death left Windsor a large inheritance that was promptly taxed by the government, which did not recognize their legal marriage. Windsor’s subsequent challenge of discrimination made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which effectively gutted the law when it ruled that using DOMA to bar same-sex couples from federal benefits and protections is unconstitutional. Many state courts have taken the ruling as reason enough to invalidate their own laws barring same-sex marriage, and even where appeals are pending (as in Utah, where a judge has ruled marriages may continue while the state makes its case), marriage equality advocates are hopeful. Though all polls should be taken with a grain of salt, it is encouraging that a number of surveys this year found for the first time a majority of support for same-sex marriage among Americans, and it seems judges and politicians are finally beginning to follow suit.

2. LGBTQ Groups Demand Rights Worldwide

Gay rights activists in Bangalore, India, hold placards during a protest meeting after the country’s top Indian court ruled that a colonial-era law criminalizing homosexuality will remain in effect in the country. AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi

Marriage battles have broken out across the rest of the world, too, and they’ve often been just as erratic abroad as in the U.S. In July, Queen Elizabeth II approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales, but not the rest of the United Kingdom. Costa Rica’s legislature accidentally passed a bill legalizing same-sex unions, but so far courts have declined to enforce it as such. In Australia, a High Court decision this month invalidated a piece of legislation from October that had legalized same-sex marriage in the Australian Capital Territory. Unlike in the U.S., where couples who marry during brief periods of legalization have been allowed to stay married after the laws are challenged, Australian couples who married during the last two months have been stripped of their licenses. Blargh. France legalized marriage equality after an outbreak of antigay attacks and expressions of homophobia, though many couples have found it still doesn’t protect their unions. But sure victories have been won in Brazil, New Zealand, Uruguay, Colombia and France.

But marriage isn’t the only right LGBTQ people have to fight for, and in many places the much more basic right to exist without fear of attack or harassment is still unsecured — and in most cases, these situations are direct results of current or former western and western colonialist influences. In Uganda, for example, a long-debated bill punishing homosexuality with life imprisonment has passed; a similarly draconian law in Nigeria was rubber-stamped this month and now awaits only a presidential signature. India’s Supreme Court overturned a 2009 law decriminalizing homosexuality, infuriating those in the country who had hoped the original legislation would be a stepping stone to greater security, recognition, and legal rights. In South Africa, where LGBTQ equality was written into the constitution but still struggles for societal support, the death of Nelson Mandela combined with mounting antigay stances among politicians has many activists worried that violence against queer people — particularly “corrective rape” of lesbians, a disturbing trend in the country — will soon increase.

In other ways, though, solid gains have been made. Ireland got an anti-bullying measure for its LGBTQ schoolkids, a French lesbian couple won the right to adopt children together and South and Southeast Asia saw queer visibility skyrocket. Trans* people are coming out and getting more acceptance in some areas, and countries like Germany and Australia allowing people avoid male or female labels on some official documents. A couple of places saw their first-ever pride celebrations, including Gujarat, India, and Podgorica, Montenegro. Serbia held its third annual pride parade despite an official ban on doing so.

3. Visibility Increases for Trans* People, But Doesn’t End Violence Against Trans* Women

Trans* people, and women especially, have made a mark on the public sphere this year, whether through representation on popular television shows or through horrifying cases of assault and mistreatment in the justice system. Though not everyone is doing it right (many are getting it really, really wrong) some media outlets are trying harder to properly address trans* people in their coverage of these events. Laverne Cox and CeCe McDonald both made my list of top queer women of 2013, and commenters on that story pointed out a handful of other trans* women who could have easily joined them, including Chelsea Manning, Janet Mock and Laura Jane Grace. Some young trans* people are demanding and winning legal protections in schools, and parents are creating more safe spaces for their gender nonconforming children. Even in countries where anti-trans* sentiment is strong, trans* communities are growing and speaking out against violence. Everywhere you look, trans* individuals are demanding recognition, and not as the demeaning caricatures they’ve long been associated with.

But these are baby steps — important baby steps, but baby steps. The pressure is on to guide those new to representing trans* folk — I’m looking at you, Two And A Half Men — are doing it in a respectful, informed way. But still, shows like Glee and movies like Dallas Buyer’s Club, which consider themselves allies to trans* folks and are lauded as such, are failing miserably to offer positive and constructive portraits of trans* life or to include trans* folks in the development or execution of their work. In this way, trans* media representation is presently not dissimilar to where gay and lesbian media representation was at in the ’80s.

I’ve seen people like Cox and Mock and our own Autostraddle writers who have made sure that at least some of the discussions going on about trans* people are done with care as well as a critical eye. Still, there is a lot of ground left to cover, particularly when it comes to stopping anti-trans violence and making the LGBTQ rights movement as inclusive as its acronym suggests.

Trans* women, especially trans* women of color, still face terrifying amounts of violence, and little chance of seeing justice for their attackers. The murders of women like Islan Nettles, Domonique Newburn, Brittany Stergis, Betty Skinner, Amari Hill, Eyricka Morgan, Kelly Young, Ashley Sinclair, Cemia Dove, Diamond Williams, and many more show us that in some ways, the most important takeaway when it comes to trans* issues in 2013 may be how far we still have to go. Charges against Nettles’ murderer were recently dropped, and many of these murders aren’t being classified as hate crimes; it’s clear that as a culture we have a lot more work to do in making sure trans women and trans women of color are safe, and for the legal system to hold someone accountable when they’re not. This was the year that saw increased outrage over trans* women’s mistreatment in prisons, but not a solution to their problems. And that should be the goal for next year — to take all this knowledge and anger and turn it into concrete change.

4. Sochi Olympics Could Be the Best or Worst Thing to Happen to Gays in Russia

The Olympics are headed to Sochi, Russia in 2014, and, given the country’s dangerous and repressive laws against gay “propaganda”, the world isn’t sure what to do about it. President Barack Obama is skipping the Olympics but sending LGBTQ Americans in his place. Gays are boycotting Russian vodka (although the impact of this move is up for debate). International celebrities are facing sanction to wave rainbow flags during trips to the country. Many are calling for a complete boycott, similar to the 1936 Berlin games. Athletes are coming out in droves and assuring the world they’ll compete in Sochi anyway. Still, Russia is cementing its stance as a homophobe’s heaven by passing laws.  In the meantime, Russia’s laws have spurred horrific attacks against gay teens (who, uhh, don’t deserve protecting, apparently). There has been some hope that the government is softening its anti-gay stance, but then everyone started second-guessing that as a political tactic to make the Olympics a success. Until we hear more discussion (and more solid commitments) from Russian leaders, it’s hard to say what the best tactic is going into the games.

5. Everybody Comes Out

Coming out is a double-edged sword for most of us; for celebrities or people otherwise in the larger spotlight, it is even more loaded. Regardless, the backlash to coming out has changed radically. 2013 was a big year of coming out for politicians, actors, journalists, athletes, musicians, television and comic book characters, scientists and many, many more. Elsewhere, debate erupted on why we come out, when we should do it, what we say when we do and what it means if we don’t. Regardless of why or how we come out, though, doing so is an important personal and political act. It asserts our right to exist, reminds those who oppose us that we aren’t going anywhere. And if 2013 felt like we found a new fellow queer a day, I can’t wait to see what 2014 brings.

And that’s it! Well, it’s not everything, of course, but we’ll dive into more after the new year. For now, go pick out your best sparkly outfit, buy some champagne, and get ready to party. We made it through 2013! See you next year.

Queer View Mirror is a weekly news recap focusing on one topic per week. (Except this first one, which covers the whole year.) I’ll take you through the history of the topic, the most current events and where to go to learn more. Use what you read here to write a research paper, be a better blogger or impress people at parties. Or as an excuse to never read the newspaper again. You do you. If there’s something in particular you want to hear about, email kaitlyn@autostraddle.com and let me know!

Soldier Tried for Wikileaks Involvement Comes Out As Chelsea Manning

feature image via Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski

After being sentenced to 35 years in prison on a number of charges after collaborating with WikiLeaks to make classified government information public, the soldier who has ignited controversy and conversation about the difference between whistleblowing and treason has come out as Chelsea Manning, a trans woman. In Manning’s official statement made exclusively to TODAY, she thanked her supporters and talked about how she’d like to be referred to in the media and her future:

Subject: The Next Stage of My Life

I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years. Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and encouragement have helped keep me strong. I am forever indebted to those who wrote to me, made a donation to my defense fund, or came to watch a portion of the trial. I would especially like to thank Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network for their tireless efforts in raising awareness for my case and providing for my legal representation.

As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.

Thank you,

Chelsea E. Manning

This isn’t a surprising announcement; based on some of the private online chats of Manning’s that were exposed during the investigation, it was implied that Manning wasn’t happy or comfortable with her gender presentation at the time, or with the prospect of the whole nation seeing her “as a boy” during the prosecution. And Manning’s gender identity was even used in her defense; Manning’s lawyers argued that the heteronormative, cissexist and DADT-compliant culture of the armed services contributed to Manning’s feelings of depression and isolation and may have been a factor in her decision to leak documents. They used an email that Manning had sent to her supervisor titled “my problem” that included a photo of Manning wearing makeup and a wig to support this argument in court. (A note: although this information has been available for some time, Autostraddle didn’t feel it was ethical to make a judgment of Manning’s gender identity based on documents she had never meant to be released publicly, and so had used masculine pronouns until today’s announcement. Feminine pronouns will of course be used for Manning from now on.)

Also unfortunately unsurprising is that many of the news outlets covering this story have been handling it very poorly, with egregious misgendering of Manning and a fundamental lack of understanding of basic facts about trans* identity. Trans Media Watch has encouraged readers to send their style guide to any publications they see engaging in problematic reporting and/or misgendering Manning. Gawker has published an article exploring the responsibility of media outlets in the wake of Manning’s sentencing and coming out:

Though the media and their sources both want to see news come to light, there is one big difference between them: the media is a powerful institution. Sources are not. Sources are disparate individuals with varying interests. The media is a vital social structure with well-established legal protections, and with the means to fight back strongly against any threats against it. “Never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel,” goes the other old saying. …What this all means is that while the media and the source are equally morally responsible for the publication of a story, the media is (relatively) protected—by law, by resources, by institutional privilege, and by the ability to drum up public outrage—and the source is not protected at all, except by anonymity. If they are discovered, they are out of luck. So Chelsea Manning is sentenced to 35 years in prison, and all of the news outlets around the world that published hundreds and hundreds of stories based on the information that she disclosed shrug and carry on with their day.

While most media outlets probably won’t respond to the call to engage with Manning’s story in a politicized way, it does highlight how much Manning has given up for the information she shared. And given the fact that she’s now having to discuss her gender on a largely unforgiving global stage, it seems like very little is being asked of media outlets when she requests that they use her name and talk about her gender accurately (especially since the AP style guide already calls for this).

The prospects for Manning as she faces her prison sentence are fairly grim. As Mey outlined, trans women are rarely afforded the right to be imprisoned with other women, which Manning reminds us of as she asks supporters to use her former name when sending mail to her confinement facility. Although Manning expressed a desire to start hormone therapy in her statement, the Army has stated they won’t provide it, and it seems unlikely she’ll be allowed to be housed in a women’s prison. The ACLU has already issued a statement on the Army’s policy in this case, saying:

In response to Chelsea Manning’s disclosure that she is female, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and will be seeking hormone therapy as a part of her transition during her incarceration, public statements by military officials that the Army does not provide hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria raise serious constitutional concerns.

If the ACLU moves forward with their case that denying Manning hormone therapy may be unconstitutional, Manning’s case could become groundbreaking in another way; as the most high-profile incarcerated trans woman in America, and possibly providing precedents that would be helpful to incarcerated trans women who aren’t household names, like CeCe McDonald.

Hopefully, Manning’s supporters — from the numerous support sites and blogs started in her name to the people who protested outside her sentencing — will continue to support her, and to petition Obama for her pardon. As of right now, it’s unclear whether they’ll continue to stand by her. Bradleymanning.org has posted a story titled “Heroic whistle-blower addresses gender publicly: ready to move on to next phase of her life,” which contains Manning’s statement and uses her correct pronouns, but the site overall still contains many references to the name Bradley and masculine pronouns. The Free Bradley Manning Facebook page has not updated its name or pronouns and hasn’t made any comment since Manning’s announcement.

Chelsea Manning’s future in a confinement facility doesn’t look bright. Efforts to get Obama to pardon her are unlikely to succeed, and even if she doesn’t serve her entire 35-year-sentence, she will probably be in prison for the next 7-10 years. There is no reason to believe that her gender identity will be respected or acknowledged in prison, or that she will be able to access the medical treatment she’s asked for. But at least Manning, whose freedom has been restricted for so long now and will continue to be, has been able to tell this truth on her own terms.