Monthly Archives: May 2017

Chelsea Manning will come back to a world that has changed even more than she has.

When the Army soldier was convicted by court martial in July 2013 for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks, coming out as a transgender woman shortly thereafter, public awareness of transgender issues was nowhere near what it is today.

Transgender soldiers could not serve openly in the military. The word transgender had never been uttered in a State of the Union address. There were no landmark transgender rights cases headed to the Supreme Court. Laverne Cox had just started her high-profile role in Orange is the New Black. North Carolina had sparked national backlash with discriminatory legislation that specifically targeted transgender bathroom use, nor had Target publicly defended its restroom policy. Caitlyn Jenner went by another name.

So when Manning is finally released on May 17much earlier than she would have been had President Obama not commuted the remainder her decades-long prison sentence this Januarywhat place will she find, if any, in the transgender movement of 2017?

I dont imagine her living a private life, said Chase Strangio, Mannings lawyer and a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, in an interview with The Daily Beast. I imagine her being incredibly engaged on issues that she cares aboutparticularly on issues of trans justice.

Manning herself is not scheduling new interviews at this time, according to a representative who told The Daily Beast: We are focused on Chelseas security and resettlement now and [in] the months immediately following her release.

In a lengthy statement released earlier this month, Manning said, For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea. I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world.

At the end of the statement, Manning hinted at possible post-release activism: I hope to take the lessons that I have learned, the love that I have been given, and the hope that I have to work toward making life better for others.

What shape that work will take, however, remains to be seen. In the immediate aftermath of her release, Manning will remain on active duty as an Army private and be eligible for health care benefits pending the ongoing appeal of her court-martial conviction, as USA Todays Tom Vanden Brook reported, noting that she could be dishonorably discharged if the appeal is not successful.

In the meantime, Manning will not be paid and Strangio has so far raised $135,000 through a GoFundMe to cover her immediate living expenses.

The focus for everyone [right now] is just getting her out of custody safely, with tools and resources set up to support her in the coming days, and weeks, and months, said Strangio.

Manning will be primarily focused on the transition out of prison the immediate aftermath of her release, said Strangio.

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Held in a mens facility at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth and forced to conform to male grooming standards, the Army private successfully advocated for access to medically necessary transition-related health care, receiving approval for hormone therapy in 2015 and receiving approval for sex reassignment surgery the following year after a hunger strike.

She has reportedly attempted suicide twice, receiving a solitary confinement sentence after one attempt.

Something as seemingly simple as being able to grow out her hair will be incredibly meaningful to Manning, who made reference to her routinely forced haircuts in her statement.

Despite the fact that Manning has been allowed female hormones for years, she has been required to keep her hair no longer than two inches long. This requirement explains whyas the GoFundMe notedManning still prefers prison photos showing her with short hair rather than other images showing her wearing a wig: They capture the reality of her prison life.

That reality is about to changeand so, too, will Mannings ability to express her gender. For those who have advocated for her rights from outside of prison, Strangio included, merely watching her transition will be gratifying.

When the commutation came down [in January], I was so emotional for so many reasons, he said. But perhaps the most visceral feeling that I had in that moment was this overwhelming reliefto the point that I was feeling physical reliefjust thinking about her ability to control her body and her expression of her gender for the first time in so many years.

But it wont be too long, Strangio anticipates, before Manning reenters public life. In many ways, she never left it.

While in prison, Manning maintained an active Twitter account through her surrogates. She kept up with and commented on current events through a regular Guardian column.

Her treatment in prison drew media attention to the plight of transgender prisoners, the vast majority of whom are held in facilities that do no match their genders. As The New York Times reported in a front-page January story, Manning has been reading a diverse array of books and magazines, ranging from the Princeton Companion to Mathematics to Vanity Fair.

I look forward to her process around deciding what makes sense for her and what feels best, said Strangio. But I do feel like shes someone who thrives on engagement: intellectual engagement, emotional engagement, and just advocacy itselfand the whole driving purpose of her life in so many ways has been about service to others and service to the public.

Strangio is aware that public opinion is divided on Mannings disclosures to WikiLeaks and her subsequent conviction under the Espionage Act.

Some consider her a hero; others a traitor. YouGov / Huffington Post polling conducted in January revealed a complex public reaction to Obamas decision to commute Mannings sentence: Overall, only 33 percent of Americans approved it and 47 percent opposed.

While Democrats were far more likely to support the commutation than Republicans, a substantial 28 percent of Democrats still opposed it.

LGBT rights groups, on the other hand, have generally stood by Manning. Lambda Legal, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Transgender Law Center all signed an ACLU letter supporting her application for clemency. The National Center for Transgender Equality sent its own letter.

The Human Rights Campaign praised the commutation decision as a reflection of Presidents Obamas strong record regarding the humane treatment of prisoners and a long commitment to LGBTQ equality. The media advocacy group GLAAD has been vocal about bad reporting on Manning that misgenders her or uses outdated terminology.

But Strangio hopes that no matter what people make of Mannings actions, they will be able to recognize her core humanity and support her transition.

Whats important is honoring the person that she is and recognizing, whether people agree with what she did or not, that shes a person of deep conviction, of deep patriotism, and of deep commitment to community and to her vision of justice, he said, noting that she has suffered an unbelievable amount at the hands of our government and is living prison with so much grace and without much bitterness.

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What Will Chelsea Manning Do With Her Freedom? - Daily Beast

A press freedom advocacy group is speaking out on reports that President Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to consider jailing journalists, saying the comments "cross a dangerous line."

The comments attributed to President Trump cross a dangerous line. But no president gets to jail journalists, Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in astatementTuesday.

Reporters are protected by judges and juries, by a congress that relies on them to stay informed, and by a Justice Department that for decades has honored the role of a free press by spurning prosecutions of journalists for publishing leaks of classified information.

A bombshellNew York Times report published Tuesdayrevealed that in a February conversation in the Oval Office, Trump asked Comey about jailing reporters who leaked classified information.

The report also included that Trump asked Comey to end the federal probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Brown said the comments like the ones reportedly by Trump remind us that every day public servants are reaching out to reporters to ensure the public is aware of the risks today to rule of law in this country.

He added the comments should not intimidate the press but inspire it."

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Press freedom group rips Trump for suggesting Comey jail reporters - The Hill

Famed political humorist Molly Ivins liked to call Texas the National Laboratory for Bad Government, which is why the nation as a whole should look with trepidation at the events that transpired last week in the state legislature. While the national press was riveted for good reason! by the ongoing scandal surrounding President Donald Trumps firing of FBI Director James Comey, the Texas legislatureupped the ante when it comes to destroying the government in the name of right-wing ideological purity.

In sum, the self-described Freedom Caucus in the Austin legislature, claiming that the Republican-controlled body is somehow not conservative enough, decided to go on a bill-blocking spree at the end of last week, using procedural machinations to run out the clockfor more than 100bills, effectively killing off those bills.

The event was dubbed the Mothers Day Massacre by observers. Its a nickname that had an uncomfortably literal side to it, as two of the bills that were killed off withdelayingtactics were meant to address Texas alarming maternal mortality rate, whichdoubled from2011 to 2014, making the states maternity mortality rate the highest in the developed world.

Itwasnt just mothers who were victims of the Freedom Caucus stunt. Multiple bills meant to helpchildren were decimatedas well, including oneaimed at protecting children from sexual predators, legislationintended tostop schools from shaming children who dont have lunch money and a bill to encourage early literacy.

The caucus members were angry because the Houses leadership, which is also dominated by conservative Republicans, caused the demise of a handful of Freedom Caucus-friendly bills covering a range of far-right hobbyhorses, including attacks on abortion rights and public schools.In response the caucus killed dozens more bills.

Its not easy to write a bill thats so radical in its right-wing politics that it ends up being rejected by the Texas branch of Republican Party, a point that GOP state Rep. Dennis Bonnen emphasized to the Austin American-Statesman. So sanctuary cities is not a conservative issue for them? Bonnencomplained, referring to a bill signed into law on May 7 by Gov. Greg Abbott that is so racist and oppressive that the American Civil Liberties Unionhad to issue a travel advisory warningpeople who might be perceived as immigrants about the dangers of harassment and illegal detention by the police. Caucus memberRep. Jeff Leachsaid, after watching the killing of ahandful of radical right-wing bills: Weve learned time and time again, when a bully punches you again and again and again. You can walk away. You can be kind. But sometimes you got to punch back.

This behaviorby the Texas Freedom Caucus suggests thatthe newly hardened far right of the Republican Party is not merely not going away, but it may be more willing than ever to use the tactics of blackmail to try to turn the red states and eventually the country into aHandmaids Tale-style dystopia of their dreams.

A version of this, of course, has beenhappening on the national level, asthe Freedom Caucusof the House of Representativeswas able to push the American Health Care Act, also known as Trumpcare, even further to the right through obstructionist politics. Thesehardball tactics resulted in a billthat would strip away coverage mandates, slash Medicaid and allow discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.

Its hard not to see the Lone Star States version of the Freedom Caucus as an escalation of this strategy. This isnt just about changing one bill or even a handful of bills; its about demanding that the Republican Party move even further to the right and at an even more breakneck speed than before.

The anger that the Republicans arent moving hard enough or fast enough to the right is doubly alarming when one considers how far the party has already traveled. Political polarization has been a major political trend over the past few decades, but most of the shift is due to Republicansstampeding rightward. Yes, its also true that Democrats have become more liberal, at least on social issues.But as Nolan McCarty ofTheWashington Post explained in 2014, Despite the widespread belief that both parties have moved to the extremes, the movement of the Republican Party to the right accounts for most of the divergence between the two parties.

To be clear, the Texas legislatures Freedom Caucus didnt succeed, in the short term anyway, with its temper tantrum. Itstoo-far-right-for-Texas bills didnt end up beingreinstated on the legislative calendar and the caucus membersarent going to get a debate on them, much less a vote. But the caucus did manage to derail all other business in the legislature, and its hard to not notice that a lot of the dead bills dealt with issues that will get you called a snowflake on social media for caring about them saving womens lives, stopping school bullying,encouraging literacy.

The bigger issue lies inthevery existence of freedom caucuses, largely composed of right-wing radicals whoare willing to grind the government to a halt rather than compromise on their ideological purity. The members of this caucus held a self-pitying press conference when they identified as victims of bullying because they didnt get what they wanted. This isa narrative that not only justifies their behavior but that also encourages other extremist politicians to take a hard-line approach to getting their way. As the Republican Party has already shifted so far to the right, theres good reason to worry that these zealous tactics could actually work.

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Texas Freedom Caucus kills more than 100 bills because other ... - Salon

Washington

A U.S. congressman told attendees at a Washington summit on Christian persecution that "more than ever before, vigorous U.S. leadership and diplomacy are needed to address religious freedom violations globally."

"Religious persecution is festering and exploding around the world. What has been unconscionable for decades, centuries, has gotten worse," Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, said May 12 in remarks at the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians.

The May 10-13 summit was convened by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and drew several hundred religious leaders and victims of Christian persecution from around the world.

Smith noted that a Washington conference held a month before, titled "Under Caesar's Sword," had "underscored the fact that Christians are the most persecuted religious community globally." In conjunction with that conference, a report was issued detailing the nature of persecution against Christians in different nations across the globe.

"In many countries, Christians suffer genocide and face an existential threat. For many believers, refusal to renounce Jesus Christ means martyrdom, rape, torture and pain," Smith said.

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He recalled that 37 years ago during his first term in Congress, he was moved to tears by reading a book titled "Tortured for Christ" by a Romanian Christian pastor, Richard Wurmbrand, who also was the founder of the Voice of the Martyrs.

"As so many of you know, it is the true story of unspeakable physical torture and psychological abuse of underground Christians under Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and Pastor Wurmbrand's harrowing 14-year incarceration," he said. "Sabina, his brave wife, also suffered prison and forced labor for her faith."

"Like so many, I was inspired by Pastor Wurmbrand's indomitable faith, breathtaking courage and hope and challenged by his admonishment to believers to cease enabling evil by our naivete, coldhearted indifference or cowardly complicity," Smith added.

In 1982, he made his first "religious freedom mission" to Moscow and Leningrad on behalf of Soviet Jews, and his most recent such trip was before last Christmas to visit some of the Christian survivors of Islamic State genocide, and to press the U.S. and United Nations to help them. He and his delegation traveled to Iraq at the invitation of Iraqi Archbishop Bashar Warda of Irbil. They visited a camp with 6,000 refugees.

"We then sat with Christians and heard stories of ISIS atrocities, the desecration of churches, the crucifixions of young men who refused to join ISIS, and the sexual slavery forced on some young Christian girls," Smith said. "We also heard stories of hope, faith and charityand joined in prayers for the persecuted and those who persecute."

The Archdiocese of Irbil has been sustaining the survivors with medical care, food and shelter, and also assisting Yezidis and Muslims who escaped ISIS, Smith said. At that point not "a single penny" in aid had been offered by the U.S. and U.N. humanitarian agenciesdespite Smith chairing nine congressional hearings about it, he said.

Help also was forthcoming from the Aid to the Church in Need, the Knights of Columbus and other U.S. and European charities.

Since his trip, Smith reported, U.S. and U.N. representatives have visited these refugees and "have promised aid and protection."

"Whether it be defending unborn babies and their mothers from the wanton violence of abortion or protecting the vulnerable victims of human trafficking or feeding the hungry or mitigating terrorism and warthe exponential increase in the number of persecuted Christians worldwide today, begs a far more robust, effective and sustained response."

He said tools embedded in laws such as the Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act "need to be rigorously utilized" by the United States to respond to this crisis.

President Barack Obama Dec. 16 signed the bipartisan measure, which was written by Smith and co-sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-California. It gave the Obama administration and now the Trump administration and the U.S. State Department new tools, resources and training to counter extremism and combat a worldwide escalation of persecution of religious minorities.

It will improve U.S. religious freedom diplomacy efforts globally; better train and equip diplomats to counter extremism; address anti-Semitism and religious persecution and mitigate sectarian conflict.

Smith thanked Vice President Mike Pence for his remarks at the summit May 11, which "made it clear that religious freedom both at home and abroad is an extremely high priority for the new (Trump) administration."

Pence told attendees that "the suffering of Christians in the Middle East has stirred America to act" and that President Donald Trump has made it clear the U.S. "will stand by followers of Christ in this hour of need."

Smith said more work must be done to meet the needs of genocide victims of Iraq and Syria. To that end, in January he reintroduced the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act, or H.R. 390. The House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the measure, and Smith hoped for House passage "within days."

"This bill directs the U.S. government to provide humanitarian assistance to Christians and other religious minorities who survived the genocide and support ongoing criminal investigations into perpetrators to ensure they are held accountable," he explained.

Originally posted here:

US urged to be more vigorous in protecting religious freedom globally - National Catholic Reporter

[Editors note: This is the secondof two editorials on religious freedom Representative Francis Rooney has written for Crux.]

As discussed in the first article in this series, The role of religious freedom today, free expression of religion can stabilize civil societies and has helped defeat extremist ideologies.

Currently, much of Islamic society is stuck in the past, and uses an extreme interpretation of the Koran to justify barriers to the free expression of religion, such as blasphemy laws, and for violent religious persecution.

Promoting religious freedom, including the values of free expression and dialogue, will help undermine these blasphemy laws, hopefully leading to their elimination, and will allow Muslim leaders to freely speak out to reform Islam from within.

Blasphemy laws are used to persecute critics of Islam, whether moderate Muslims, Christians or Jews, and to attack so-called non-believers, thus forming an impenetrable barrier to any form of acceptance of other religious beliefs and contributing to the growth of Islamic extremism.

Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Yemen are among the Islamic countries with blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, any expression that degrades an aspect of Islam, however innocuous, such as reference to the Koran or the Prophet Muhammad, is punishable under law.

Salman Taseer, Governor of the Punjab State in Pakistan, was assassinated in 2011 for calling for reforms to the laws. More recently, in Saudi Arabia, a man was sentenced to death for tweeting insults about the Prophet Muhammad.

Ending oppressive blasphemy laws would set the stage for free expression of religious opinions in the Muslim world and would help modernize Islamic societies.

Furthermore, radical Islamic groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda, leverage the concept of blasphemy and the harsher verbiage in the Koran to recruit and train terrorists and expand their ability to commit heinous crimes around the world.

Barbaric acts committed by extremist groups against religious minorities and moderate Muslims include kidnappings, enslavement, and beheadings. For instance, in 2015, ISIS published a hit list of western Muslims who they believe distort the Islamic faith.

On Palm Sunday 2017, ISIS claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on Coptic Christian churches in Egypt during mass, killing dozens and wounding many more, replicating an identical attack they perpetrated on the cathedral of Alexandria in 2011.

Because of his experiences growing up in Nazi Germany and years of study of the Koran and comparative religion, Pope Benedict XVI was the first international leader to articulate on a global stage the importance of free expression of religion in combating radical Islam.

Benedict understood reason is compatible with religion, going back to the alignment of enlightenment thinking and traditional Catholic theology.

Benedict also realized the need for moral values in civic life, and the role of religion as a constructive and stabilizing force in the secular world. This provides the basis for arguing that Islam can be tempered and developed just as construction and interpretation of the Bible was years ago, promoting an interpretation of the Koran aligned with our 21st century mores.

Perhaps the most influential legacy of Benedict XVIs papacy was his 2006 lecture at Regensburg University.

Pope Benedict spoke clearly and aggressively about the evil use of religion as an excuse for violence, the incompatibility of the command of the Prophet to spread the word by the sword with the modern world, and the need for Islam to take control of its dogma and teachings and to develop constructions of them in ways which are aligned with the expectations of civility by the rest of the world.

While controversial, the speech led prominent Muslims to call for reforms. Over 30 Islamic religious leaders and scholars sent a letter to Benedict recognizing the need for Islam to reconcile with modernity, while King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia also publicly called for reforms within Islam.

Pope Franciss visit to Egypt in the wake of radical Islamic terrorist attacks invoked the memory of Regensburg. The visit served two purposes to strengthen inter-faith relations and to call for more religious tolerance in the region.

The popes speech at Al-Azhar University, a prominent Sunni institution, condemned the use of religion to justify violence as idolatrous caricatures of God. Furthermore, Francis pointed out that recognizing religious freedom represents the best way to build the future together, to be builders of civility.

Hopefully the speech will draw similar responses from Muslim leaders in denouncing the use of religion to justify extremism.

Islamic leaders must speak up to end extremism. While examples set by the Catholic Church have prompted discussions about modernizing Islam, the reactions to Regensburg show extremist doctrines and laws cannot be successfully refuted by non-Muslims.

Indeed, after the Protestant Reformation, it was Catholic leaders who spoke out and reformed the church from within to modernize the institution and align it with Renaissance values.

Recent statements from Muslim leaders have been encouraging. In 2014, the Jordanian Minister of Religious Affairs declared the need to fight against extremist ideologies. Also in 2014, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for a virtuous religious revolution to treat the problem of extremism and its erroneous understanding of Islam.

In April 2017, Lebanons foreign minister called on moderate Muslims to reform Islam as Christianity was reformed by Christians. More calls for reform from moderate leaders are necessary to combat extremism.

Free expression of religion, including eliminating blasphemy laws, is necessary to ensure Muslim leaders can promote reform without fear. Islamic leaders should follow the example set by the Catholic Church in the 1960s and adopt a doctrine providing for religious liberties and the foundations for inter-religious dialogues.

During the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the Catholic Church adopted Nostra Aetate and Dignitatis Humanae. These documents called for expanded religious freedom and tolerance, allowing the Churchs acceptance of other religions, and were widely supported by Eastern European prelates who acutely understood the importance of religious freedom because they had lived under communist rule where religion was suppressed by unrestricted government power.

To conclude, soft power diplomacy, which advances values like religious freedom, tolerance and criticizes the concept of blasphemy in todays world, can materially contribute to defeating radical Islamic terrorism and promoting religious freedom, which will help stabilize Islamic societies.

The United States should work alongside the governments of Muslim countries, the Catholic Church and non-governmental organizations to eliminate blasphemy laws and promote an environment where moderate Muslims can safely speak up.

Finally, the concept of the separation of church and state, rather than the theocracy now existing in many Muslim countries, and a twenty-first century interpretation of the Koran should be nurtured in the Muslim world.

Francis Rooney is the U.S. Representative for Floridas 19th congressional district. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See under President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2008.

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Religious freedom and Islamic terrorism - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

A photograph of James Dennis as used by the Justice for Jimmy campaign. Courtesy of Justice for Jimmy

The judge said he could be released on time served. But he was also serving a separate sentence for an unrelated robbery conviction. Dennis, who had a spotless disciplinary record in prison, would have been eligible for parole on that offense in 1999. But because he was on death row, authorities didn't bother considering it.

Prosecutors asked the state parole board to release Dennis immediately. The board granted him parole, but balked at the timing, saying it wanted him to first spend several months in a re-entry program for violent offenders. His lawyers objected, and the board acquiesced.

On Saturday, Dennis walked free.

His fiancee, Corby Johnson, and four lawyers who'd worked on his release met him outside SCI Greene in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, where Dennis spent 25 years facing execution. Some of them had been working on his case since 2000.

"It was one of the most incredible, meaningful experiences of our professional and personal lives," one of the lawyers, Rebecca Gordon, said.

The 1991 murder victim's family, meanwhile, remained publicly silent. Chedell Williams' parents could not be reached on Monday. Pennsylvania's victim advocate and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said they could not confirm whether the family had been notified.

As Dennis and his entourage drove to Philadelphia, they stopped and met Dennis' brother, Greg, at a rest stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Greg Dennis, who lives in Cincinnati, was headed to Philadelphia to join the family reunion, but couldn't wait to see his younger brother.

"I can't even explain how good that felt just to be able to hug him," Greg Dennis said. "It was the first time I'd been able to hug him in more than 25 years. The magnitude of that I don't think I can put into words."

On Sunday, Dennis celebrated Mother's Day with his mother, at home.

On Monday, Dennis reported to a local parole office, which has close oversight of him.

As part of his parole, Dennis submitted a detailed plan for his reintroduction into society, including where he'd live, work and get counseling. But the reality will no doubt be more complicated and difficult. Dennis' lawyers have created

"I think he's just trying to readjust to life," Greg Dennis said. "Trying to get himself readjusted to what he can do, because for so long it was everything he couldn't do."

James Dennis, through his lawyers, declined a request for an interview, but made a statement saying he was overwhelmed.

"I am so full of gratitude for the support I received from friends, family and the lawyers who stuck with me through this long and difficult process," Dennis said. "My focus right now is on reconnecting with my family and getting on with my life and doing some positive things. After more than 25 years in prison for a crime I did not commit, you can imagine that I have a lot of emotions and I really appreciate everyone respecting me, my family, and our privacy at this time. I continue to pray for the truth."

Read the original here:

From Death Row to Freedom: The Long Journey of James Dennis - NBCNews.com