Chelsea Manning has attended her first LGBTQ Pride event in New York City as a free woman.
The network security expert who leaked nearly three-quarters of a million classified and not-classified military documents to WikiLeaks was seen during the massive march on the streets of Manhattan riding in a red convertible and waving a flag.
Ms Manning was released from prison last month after having her 35-year sentence commuted by former President Barack Obama.
That she was able to attend the Pride event as a free woman is something of a victory for the LGBTQ community. During her prison sentence, Ms Manning was forced to keep a short hair cut, even as she attempted to transition to be a woman. That sort of treatment, and others that blocked her from openly expressing her identity, led her to file a transgender rights lawsuit and attempt suicide at least twice.
In a potentially bizarre turn for Ms Manning’s trip to New York, she tweeted that she thinks she may have ran into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had denounced Ms Manning’s leaks, while visiting a store in Manhattan. She tweeted a photo of Ms Clinton at the Pride parade, and wrote that she thinks she saw her the day before, shopping for baskets.
Ms Manning was convicted in 2013 on 20 charges, including six Espionage Act violations. She was also convicted on charges of theft and computer fraud. She was acquitted on a charge of aiding the enemy, which was the most serious charge she faced.
The documents she leaked included information on the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the killings of military contractors in Iraq, details on civilian deaths in Afghanistan, and other individual incidents.
She said at the time that her goal was to expose the alleged disregard by the American military for the effects of war on civilians.
