Chelsea Manning is taking on transphobic haters on Twitter and it’s beautiful
Chelsea Manning has had to endure hateful trolling since she left prison.
But, it turns out, she gives as good as she gets.
In May, she was released from prison after being pardoned by President Barack Obama.
Manning began her gender transition while still in prison, becoming the first military prisoner to receive gender transition treatment in prison, according to her ACLU lawyer.
And since gaining her freedom, she has been an outspoken activist on trans issues and inequality.
Earlier this week, she tweeted that the US should “dismantle the military/police state, with its walls and borders and replace it with healthcare and infrastructure for all”.
She followed this up by telling her followers that “taxation is a sharing of responsibility, and that “only the wealthy believe that taxation is theft”.
“They don’t pay taxes. We should make them,” she continued.
This prompted a storm of abuse in which she was told to die, called a traitor, a socialist and many slurs.
After all, if you’re loud and proud with your views on social media – and particularly on Twitter – you will come face-to-face with hate.
And this is even more true for trans women like Manning.
But the activist has pledged: “I will never block or mute,” and seems to be up for destroying every troll who dares to take her on.
This includes people who don’t seem to understand that not transitioning can be incredibly dangerous for trans people.
After all, she spent long enough being imprisoned.
She’s not going to be restricted now.
but id rather be loud and proud ️ https://t.co/FbSwWYQKii
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) July 11, 2017
Never you can never shut me up https://t.co/ZXT4W0jAIx
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) July 11, 2017
Manning was handed a 35-year jail sentence in 2013 for leaking 700,000 classified US army documents to WikiLeaks, but was released last month after President Barack Obama intervened to commute her sentence.
Speaking to ABC News following the release, Manning said: “I used to get these horrible feelings like I just wanted to rip my body apart and I don’t want to have to go through that experience again.”
“It was really, really awful,” she added.
Manning was just 22 when she shared the US diplomatic correspondence, which included evidence of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, profiles of detainees at Guantanamo prison camp, and low-level battlefield reports.
Speaking about her crime, she said: “I have a responsibility to the public … we all have a responsibility.
“Anything I’ve done, it’s me. There’s no one else. No one told me to do this.
“Nobody directed me to do this. This is me. It’s on me.”
