who is chealsea manning? she seems gr8 but i am having trouble learning about her

lacefuneral:

Chelsea Manning was a US soldier who had access to confidential documents and she discovered cover-ups for things like war atrocities; she became disillusioned with the military and decided to release the information

So, she copied the data on a CD-rom and wrote “Lady Gaga” on it to reduce suspicion (which surprisingly worked????). She then sent the data, anonymously, to WikiLeaks so that they could sort and publish the data. She came forward and openly admitted she was the one responsible.

She was charged with treason and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Up until this point, Chelsea had been presenting as a man – because transitioning would have had her discharged from the military. (This was before the policy that allowed trans people to openly serve)

Knowing that she had already been expelled from the military, there was no reason for her to conceal this – especially because there were already widespread news stories about her, and she wanted to set the record straight so that she wouldn’t be recorded in history as a cis man. She publicly came out as a trans woman.

While she was imprisoned, people actively campaigned for her release – insisting that she was a hero for releasing the data when she could have kept quiet. She was also being treated poorly in prison – receiving extra abuse for being a trans woman. Eventually, she became suicidal and went on a hunger strike. In response, the government agreed to let her transition. President Barack Obama eventually pardoned her, due to public outcry, and she was finally released after 7 years.

Ever since she got out of prison, she has been active on twitter – spreading positivity and activism. She also regularly attends protests. She has become known for her hashtag “#WeGotThis” – shorthand for “we can, and will, fix these problems in our country.”

tl;dr

Chelsea is a trans woman who was arrested for telling the truth about the military and she runs a really positive twitter account. I personally think she’s rad. ✌️

I love how this answer is super well written and contains 0% shame about not knowing something.