Pfc. Bradley Manning (Photo credit: Patrick Semansky/AP)

By Nathan Fuller, Bradley Manning Support Network. June 3, 2013.

More than eleven hundred days after he was arrested, Pfc. Bradley Manning’s court martial finally began in earnest at Ft. Meade, MD, where defense and government lawyers gave opening statements on the intentions behind Bradley’s release of hundreds of thousands of classified military documents to the website WikiLeaks. 

Defense: Bradley was following his humanist beliefs 

Defense lawyer David Coombs recounted a poignant turning point during Bradley’s time in Iraq. On Christmas Eve, 2009, an Army vehicle narrowly avoided injury after an explosive detonated. But in evading the explosive, the U.S. vehicle drove into a civilian car, carrying five Iraqis, including three children. His fellow soldiers celebrated into the night, cheering the U.S. soldiers’ survival, but twenty-two-year-old Bradley couldn’t forget about the injured Iraqis, who were immediately hospitalized. 

“From then on,” Coombs said, “[Bradley] struggled.” Not your typical soldier, Bradley wore customized dog tags that read “humanist.” He strove to help his unit, wanting everyone to come home safely every day, but he wanted the local nationals to go home safely every day too. 

Coombs reviewed how this overarching humanism inspired him to release each set of documents. He couldn’t read Afghanistan and Iraq War Logs without thinking of that first injured family in December ’09. He read them “with a burden.” He wanted to make a difference, and he believed this information should be public.

He watched the ‘Collateral Murder’ video, documenting the U.S. Apache killing of innocent Iraqis and Reuters journalists. He thought this video conveyed how the U.S. valued (or, didn’t value) human life, and since the Pentagon failed to follow through on its vow to make it public, he felt had to do so.

When he was given access the State Department cables, he was told to peruse the classified network to understand U.S. diplomacy. He knew the cables were accessed by more than a million people, that they couldn’t contain Top Secret information, and that they wouldn’t reveal sources – he also knew they showed how the U.S. deals with and values human life around the world, and we don’t always do the right thing.

Government suggests WikiLeaks guided Manning’s releases

By contrast, government prosecutor Captain Morrow painted Bradley’s releases as the systemic harvesting of information at WikiLeaks’ behest. He opened his statement with Bradley’s own words: “If you had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months, what would you do?” 

This commenced an effort to characterize Bradley as almost singularly focused on gathering information that WikiLeaks wanted to release. Capt. Morrow said the releases are “what happens when arrogance meets access to classified information,” and that Bradley used his military training to “gain the notoriety he craved,” despite also saying that he worked to conceal his downloading of classified documents.

Capt. Morrow also reviewed each set of files, with two chief contentions: that Bradley indiscriminately harvested and leaked information, and that he was taking orders, directly via chat logs or indirectly by looking at their ‘Most-Wanted List,’ from WikiLeaks.

Press and public struggle for trial access 

Just before those opening statements, Judge Denise Lind asked the prosecution to review the procedures in place to provide access to the press and public to Bradley’s trial, presumably in response to a motion filed by Reader Supported News. I say presumably because I watched the proceedings on a video feed in the theater next door to the courtroom (I gave my press pass for today to the Freedom of the Press foundation’s stenographers) – and the feed cut out frequently. We were in the theater because we were told that both the courtroom and the spillover trailer, whose video feed never cut out, were full. But those we talked to from the trailer said it was half-full at most.

Nevertheless, prosecutor Maj. Ashden Fein assured Judge Lind that no member of the public has ever been excluded from viewing Bradley’s proceedings. He didn’t happen to mention a last-minute restriction imposed on attendees: though they’ve been allowed for more than a year of pretrial proceedings, ‘Truth’ t-shirts were banned from the courtroom today, as were “Bradley Manning shirts or any other propoganda,” according to one gun-toting soldier. Pressed about the new limitation, one soldier told the Support Network’s Emma Cape that the decision was made from someone “very high up” and that he figured it was related to increased media access.

Maj. Fein also said that every effort has been made to provide full access to journalists, despite the legion of journalists decrying Ft. Meade’s restrictions on the media. 

He said that only five journalists had been denied press credentials to Bradley’s trial. This number was laughable, considering the Military District of Washington has claimed, “More than 350 requests for credentials were received for 70 seats in the media operations center and 10 seats in the courtroom.” We know for certain that the Freedom of Press’s stenographers were denied and that several others were as well. 

First witnesses called, forensics underway 

Finally, after lunch, the government called its first witnesses, to prove it was Bradley Manning who actually released the documents. Special Agents Thomas Smith and Toni Graham testified about arriving at Bradley’s base to photograph his housing and work stations and to interview his fellow soldiers. Specialist Eric Baker, Bradley’s roommate at F.O.B. Hammer in Baghdad, testified briefly about Bradley’s computer habits and collection of CDs and a hard drive. The defense didn’t have extensive cross-examination questions for either: in light of Bradley’s February guilty plea to providing information to WikiLeaks, his lawyers largely didn’t contest the fact that the computers in question were Bradley’s.

Tomorrow, the government will call Army Criminal Investigation Command Special Agent David Shaver, who’s expected to testify at much greater length.

Supporters marched on Ft. Meade for PFC Bradley Manning (Photo: Nathan Fuller)

Nearly two thousand supporters of US Army PFC Bradley Manning rallied and marched on Fort Meade, Maryland, this afternoon for the young whistle-blower.

Under a sweltering sun, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg, former political prisoner-turned-human rights advocate Sarah Shourd, LGBT activist and US Army LT Dan Choi, and retired US Army Col. Ann Wright addressed supporters at the Llewellyn Gate, nearest the military courtroom. 

The demonstration, which lasted several hours, comes two days before Manning’s trial is set to begin at Ft. Meade, on June 3, and three years after his arrest. The government is charging Manning with indirectly “aiding the enemy” for releasing hundreds of thousands of war logs, diplomatic cables, and military videos to the transparency website WikiLeaks.

PFC Manning has said that he hoped the releases would “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as well as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.” 

A dozen chartered buses brought supporters from across the northeast, including three buses from New York City. Military veterans and activists traveled from around North America—some arriving from as far as Michigan, Montreal, and Mexico City.

“People came from great distances to stand with a true American hero,” said Jeff Paterson, director of the Bradley Manning Support Network. “From Bradley’s demeanor in court, it’s clear he takes strength from the outpouring of support.” 

Today’s rally was held with the assistance of many national organizations, including Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, CODEPINK Women for Peace, World Can’t Wait, and Courage to Resist. 

In addition to today’s event, the Bradley Manning Support Fund is also responsible for 100% of PFC Manning’s legal fees. Twenty thousand supporters have contributed over $1.25 million dollars in defense of PFC Manning and towards associated public education efforts, since his arrest in Iraq in May 2010.

There are 3 days left to join the online mass shout out/Thunderclap for Bradley Manning.

On June 1 there will be a mass demonstration for Bradley Manning at Fort Meade. More than a thousand supporters have RSVP’ed and buses have been organized from numerous cities. Click here for bus information.  This event is expected to be the largest of the campaign. 

Then on June 2nd, supporters are invited to attend a panel on Bradley Manning and the media in Washington DC. Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg, Government Accountability Project director and DOJ whistle-blower Jesselyn Radack, Center for Constitutional Rights president emeritus Michael Ratner , and former State Department employee Peter Van Buren will discuss how WikiLeaks and the Bradley Manning trial have impacted journalism. The panelists will examine how the information released by Bradley Manning helped shaped the public’s understanding of war, diplomacy, and government secrecy, and the way the press reports on each. They’ll explore how the government’s unprecedentedly broad interpretation of “aiding the enemy” in prosecuting Bradley Manning gravely threatens press freedoms in the United States.

More and more international actions are being organized for the International Week of Action June 1-8th. Click here to view the entire list.

In other news, David House, who helped found the Bradley Manning Support Network, received some vindication in a government settlement that will have the government destroy all data it unlawfully seized and copied from David House’s notebook. The Boston Globe reports: 

“House said Homeland Security agents questioned him about his political work and beliefs, then took his laptop, camera and USB drive. In his lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, House accused the government of launching a ‘fishing expedition’ in an effort to find out who was supporting Manning, who is accused of leaking classified information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” 

Further,

“According to the settlement with House, the government has agreed to destroy any data it retrieved from the laptop and other devices agents took from House.

The government also agreed to hand over copies of reports of the investigation into House.”

Read the entire article here. 

A thousand people from around the country will descend on Ft. Meade, Maryland, to show their support for Army whistleblower PFC Bradley Manning in a mass demonstration on Saturday, June 1. They will use marching, theater, creative visuals and other actions to protest against his imprisonment two days before his court-martial trial is set to begin, on June 3, 2013.

Speakers for the rally will include Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower; Ethan McCord, the soldier who saved the children attacked in the Collateral Murder video released by WikiLeaks; Col. Ann Wright (ret.), the most senior state department official to resign in protest of the Iraq war; Sarah Shourd, hiker imprisoned by Iran turned prisoner rights activists; and Lt. Dan Choi, prominent anti-Don’t Ask Don’t Tell activist featured on the Rachel Maddow show.

Buses will be coming to the event from Syracuse, NY, New York City, Philadelphia, Willimantic, CT, New Brunswick, NJ, Baltimore and Washington D.C. and more supporters will be joining them from across the country and the world. 

Bradley Manning’s actions exposed the true number of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S.-supported torture in Iraq, and a pattern of corporate influence on U.S. foreign policy worldwide. Despite pleading guilty to charges of mishandling classified information, which could put him in jail for up to 20 years, the military is pursuing 22 charges including one count of “aiding the enemy,” which carries a sentence of life without parole. By the time Manning’s trial begins on June 3, he will have been in prison for more than three years since his arrest in May 2010.

By Nathan Fuller. May 21, 2013. 

Bradley Manning supporter protesting at Ft. Meade.

Bradley Manning returned to Ft. Meade, MD, for a one-day pretrial hearing, the last such session before his court martial will begin on June 3, 2013. Today’s hearing covered various issues surrounding classified information: namely, how it will be handled at trial, and how much of the court martial will be closed off to the press and public.

Rulings on classified information: some trial sessions will be closed

Judge Denise Lind made two rulings based on the previous closed session, on May 8, when Ambassador Don Yamamoto testified in a ‘dry run.’

In that session, she found that the defense’s proposed alternatives to closing trial during testimony that will elicit classified information – such as using code words, redactions, or substitutions – were inadequate, and therefore the court will be closed for the classified portions of 24 more government witnesses. The government is ordered to speedily provide a (likely heavily redacted) transcript of those closed sessions.

Judge Lind also ruled to narrow what the government will be allowed to present when it attempts to prove that Bradley had reason to believe certain classified information could be used to harm the United States if made public. 

The government can show more than that the documents in question were merely classified, and it can provide some context for the documents’ content and hypothetical damage it could cause. But it can’t delve too deeply into that context, because the defense will be allowed to challenge that context in court, and Judge Lind doesn’t want the court martial to “devolve into many trials regarding international politics in many regions of world.” 

Government drops one CFAA specification

Before those arguments began, almost in passing, the government revealed that it is no longer pursuing the greater charges for Specification 14 of Charge 2. Specification 14 refers to the Reykjavik-13 cable, and the greater offense is violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In February, Bradley pled guilty to a lesser-included offense of that specification, one that carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail. The greater offense carried a 10-year maximum sentence, but the government is dropping that for the Reykjavik cable alone.

In the charge sheet, that cable was separated from the remainder of the Department of State cables, which are contained in Specification 13. It was separated because the government alleged that the bulk of the State Dept. cables were released between March 28, 2010, and May 27, 2010, but that the Reykjavik-13 cable was released between February 15, 2010, and February 18, 2010. The defense challenged the latter dates, and now the government has dropped it. 

Stipulation of facts regarding OBL raid

It was also revealed that the defense and government have agreed to enter a stipulation of facts regarding the evidence found from Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound as an appellate exhibit. That document stipulates that during that raid, the U.S. collected digital media which included three items: (1) a letter from Osama bin Laden to a member of Al Qaeda requesting that the member gather defense material posted to WikiLeaks, (2), a letter from the same member of Al Qaeda to Osama bin Laden, attached to which was the Afghan. War Log as posted by WikiLeaks, and (3) Dept. of State information released by WikiLeaks.

The parties stipulating to these facts could remove the need for the government’s classified ‘John Doe’ witness to testify. 

Vivienne Westwood supporting Bradley Manning at the 2013 Met Ball.

Vivienne Westwood was cut off by her Vogue interviewer at the Met Ball when she spoke out on behalf of Bradley Manning. New York magazine “The Cut” reports:

Monday night at the Met Gala, Vivienne Westwood took her turn on the Vogue livestream and wouldn’t answer Billy Norwich’s question about what designer she was wearing. Instead, she wanted to talk about her jewelry: A laminated photo of the Wikileaks revolutionary Bradley Manning, attached by safety pins to her pastel robes. “When I did punk all those years ago, [it was about the same thing]: Justice and [trying to] have a better world,” she explained. “I’ve got different methods nowadays.” Then she wanted to keep going – “I’ve got one more thing to say,” she added, gesturing to the guy beside her – before she got cut-off/interrupted… 

Vivienne Westwood is a famous fashion designer credited with building on punk fashion. She is a long time social activist. Read her blog here. 

Judge Denise Lind. Courtroom sketch by Clark Stoeckley, Bradley Manning Support Network.

By Nathan Fuller, Bradley Manning Support Network. May 7, 2013.

PFC Bradley Manning’s pretrial proceedings continued today with a very brief open session, including two short rulings from Judge Denise Lind and more information about tomorrow’s closed session, which will provide a ‘dry run’ for a government witness to divulge classified information in secret.

In the first ruling, Judge Lind granted the government’s request to have ‘John Doe’ – presumed to be a Navy SEAL – testify in an entirely closed session, in an undisclosed location, to protect his identity, which is classified at the Secret level and which the government claims could cause harm to national security if made public. This witness will allegedly testify about documents he retrieved at Osama bin Laden’s compound following the May 1, 2011, raid.

The second ruling mirrored the first, except that it allowed for the secret testimony of three other classified witnesses. 

The defense didn’t object to any of these four testifying in closed sessions. They’ll each testify in “light disguise,” which could include facial hair, wigs, and/or prosthetics to obscure their identities but to still allow the defense to observe their facial reactions. 

These witnesses, the government says, will largely divulge classified information, but that some portion of their testimony will be unclassified. The court will provide a redacted transcript of these closed sessions for the press and public to document these portions.

Tomorrow, Don Yamamoto, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and current acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, will be the ‘dry run’ witness, testifying in secret to determine if his type of testimony could be summarized, redacted, or referred to with code words so as to keep the courtroom open during those portions of the trial. 

We’ll return to open-court sessions at the next pretrial hearing, still scheduled for May 21-24. The May 21 session begins at 9:30 AM ET. Bradley’s court-martial trial is scheduled to begin on June 3, 2013, and run for 12 weeks. By the time it starts, he’ll have been in jail awaiting trial for more than three years.

The day that I left  Iraq, I vowed to dedicate my life to telling the story of my home, my people and how this preemptive war destroyed my country. I left Iraq in May 2003, shortly after the invasion, and my family and I moved to Damascus, Syria, where we sought refuge for more than four years. I remember following the news on Iraq and gathering whatever stories I could get from family or friends who came to visit us in our one-bedroom apartment in Jaramana. It has been more than ten years since I left , but Iraq has never left me, even when I decided to come to the United States, the same country that invaded mine and resulted in me having to leave my home. Living here I became more determined to represent my country at every chance I could, and later I found that not many people in the United States know anything about Iraq beyond what the mainstream media tells them to believe. A lot of people believed that Iraq was all desert, that Iraqis don’t speak English, all women wear the hijab, and some even believed that the invasion was the right decision to make to liberate Iraqis from the claws of Saddam’s dictatorship.

Several myths were cultivated around my home country, the birthplace of the first and most ancient civilization in the world, where language was first written and documented on clay boards, and where one of the early codes of law was written by its ancient King Hammurabi. Many people didn’t know that Iraq has two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, flowing from north to south, feeding its valleys and plains, and that some of its city Baghdad was the capital of the Muslim Empire during the Middle Ages.  

And though Iraq endured dark and harsh years before the invasion, Iraqis today are living in even worse conditions; the sectarian divide is stronger than ever, especially with the current Prime Minister’s ill leadership, which Iran has encouraged to favor the Shia at the expense of the Sunni and other religious minorities. Women’s rights continue to be violated and stripped as the new constitution prevents women from inheriting or owning property, while militias that have strong authority in the majority of neighborhoods and provinces in Iraq dictate how women should dress and where and when they are allowed to leave their homes. The educational system has deteriorated and fallen behind at least thirty years in comparison with where it was before the invasion because of the assassination of many professors and educators, and even more fleeing the country out of fear for their life.

It is precisely for these reasons that I chose to become an activist for peace and an advocate for Iraq and the Iraqi people. I found myself given an opportunity to teach and be taught. One of the opportunities that I received as an activist was speaking in front of members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, where I was asked to tell my personal story in a room full of veterans who served in Iraq. I might have been on the same street with one or two of them in Baghdad and we never knew it. This opportunity opened my eyes and heart to a new reality that was not visible to me as an Iraqi; this reality changed my perspective and fueled my determination to work more for Iraq. I found a large group of men and women who served in a war that they didn’t expect to fight, who had to follow rules that seemed to go against the nature of the noble purpose they were told they’d be serving. They decided to stand up, speak the truth and advocate for peace. The uniforms that I judged them for were stripped away and instead I saw the human beings underneath. I now found myself in a room full of allies that I once saw as enemies.

Farah with Col. Ann Wright and the Iraq Veterans Against the War

While working with my new allies I became aware of the pain and challenges that they all go through during their time of service and even after. After speaking in front of the veterans, I became more connected with them and worked on several projects to tell the story of Iraq from both soldiers’ eyes and Iraqi eyes. One of the crucial things that I learned from this particular experience is how much we all have in common as humans and how politics often tries to separate us by creating imaginary borders, waging wars, and establishing the rhetoric of “us” vs. “them.” The dehumanization of “them” was definitely one of the factors that motivated Bradley Manning to blow the whistle on what he witnessed while he was in Iraq. His realization came after discovering that the war on Iraq was based on a myth and the cost of war was higher than numbers can count in money and human lives. With this understanding, I became more interested in learning more about Bradley, and I read the logs that he uncovered.

Bradley Manning to me is definitely an ally. He is an ally because he witnessed the wrongdoing of the military that was sent to liberate people from the grips of an unjust regime and an oppressive society, yet he saw, as the world saw thanks to him, that innocents were killed for no good reason, and that innocents were called names, and accused of being members of terrorist groups that they despised. What Bradley Manning did was deliver the transparency this democracy lacked in a time when it was desperately needed. People around the world began to question the real reasons behind the invasion.  While the White House was on the one hand excusing its stay in Iraq as a matter of necessity for the Iraqi people and their newly installed democracy, and on the other hand trying to leave Iraq as soon as possible, giving to the people only a pile of destruction and a corrupt government, Bradley Manning exposed the truth as it is.  Bradley followed his conscience in a time when the cries for help from Iraq were quickly forgotten, and because of that, because of his stand against injustice and his efforts to inform the world, and particularly his people. . . the American people, he is a living symbol of truth… and we all would be fools to not stand in support of him and demand his release.

Our new Assistant Campaign Organizer, Farah, was born and raised in Iraq. She has been living in the United States since 2008. Farah joined the Iraqi Student Project in 2007 and is a member of the Civilian Soldier Alliance. This year she is the recipient of the Martin Luther King Junior award presented by the Human Rights Commission in Marin County, California. Farah recently graduated with a degree in Political Science from Dominican University, Marin County, California. She volunteers as a website developer for the Arab American Cultural Center in Silicon Valley translating interviews of Iraqi refugees.

The rest of the staff at the Bradley Manning Support Network is excited to welcome Farah to our team!

• Ran as a full page ad (PDF) in the SF Bay Reporter, May 15, 2013
• Donate here to help us publish this open letter in San Francisco, including the SF Bay Reporter and SF Chronicle.
• Encourage SF PRIDE! to reinstate Bradley Manning as a Grand Marshal – SF Pride Offices: 415.864.0831; SF Pride President Lisa Williams: 415.424.9660; info@sfpride.org; Fax: 415.864.5889
• Are you an LGBTQ member interested in signing this statement? Please contact: emma@bradleymanning.org and include how you would like to be described in the signature
• Statement first published by the San Francisco Bay Guardian

By LGBT Community Leaders. May 2, 2013

Recently, it was announced that PFC Bradley Manning would be a grand marshal of the 2013 San Francisco Pride Celebration. We felt this decision was a bold and uplifting choice, bestowing a great May honor on a young whistleblower being persecuted for following his conscience.

Much to our disappointment, two days later SF Pride board president Lisa Williams issued a separate announcement that the SF Pride board would not be honoring PFC Manning as a grand marshal after all.  It appears the SF pride board’s reversal was affected by criticism from a recently formed gay military rights group.  

We want the world to know that the SF Pride board’s decision is not reflective of the LGBTQ community as a whole, and that many of us proudly celebrate PFC Manning as a member of our community.  Unfortunately, the statements by Williams, and the group which originally advocated against PFC Manning as grand marshal, continue to perpetuate certain factual inaccuracies with regards to the military prosecution against him.  

Bradley Manning, while on active duty, at a Washington DC Pride march, summer 2009

The first inaccuracy would be that PFC Manning did not advocate for gay rights.  In fact, while serving in the military, PFC Manning experienced harassment and physical assault because of his perceived sexuality.  He responded by marching against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the DC pride parade, where he spoke to reporters about his position, in addition to attending a fundraiser with Gavin Newsom and the Stonewall Democrats so he could discuss the issue of homophobia in the military.  He told a friend in February of 2009 that his experience living under DADT and experiencing the oppression that entailed helped increase his interest in politics more generally.

LGBTQ activists fought hard for years to win the right to live free from the fear that we could be targeted with violence deemed acceptable to society at large, simply for being who we are.  We members of the LGBTQ community would like to stand in solidarity with others around the world who still must live in fear of violence and oppression, simply for being born into a particular group.

Contrary to SF Pride Board president Lisa Williams’s claim, no evidence has been presented that PFC Manning’s actions endangered fellow soldiers or civilians.  In fact, the military prosecution has successfully argued in court that it isn’t required to provide such evidence, and former State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley continues to insist that the “Aiding the enemy” charge is unwarranted.  

In a February 28, 2013, court statement, PFC Manning detailed the due diligence he performed prior to releasing materials to ensure this lack of harm, in addition to explaining,

“I believed the detailed analysis of the [Iraq and Afghanistan war log] data over a long period of time by different sectors of society might cause society to reevaluate the need or even the desire to even to engage in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations that ignore the complex dynamics of the people living in the affected environment every day.”

Bradley Manning attending a fundraiser with Gavin Newsom and the Stonewall Democrats, summer 2009.

The truth is that President Bush and VP Cheney’s aggressive wars in the Middle East endangered far more LGBTQ service members and civilians than any Army whistle-blower.  Unlike PFC Manning, however, they have never served prison time, and likely never will.

Millions of people around the world support Bradley for the personal risk he took in sharing realities of complicated U.S. foreign conflicts with the American people.  He is the only gay U.S. serviceperson to be nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.  In joining the Army, soldiers take an oath to protect the U.S. Constitution, and we believe that by his actions PFC Manning strengthened our democracy, and fulfilled that oath to a greater degree than most enlisted.

We are proud to embrace PFC Bradley Manning as one of our icons, and intend to march for him in pride contingents across the country this year, as we have in years past.  We think Bradley Manning sets a high standard for what a U.S. serviceperson, gay or straight, can be.

Organizations listed for identification purposes only

Lt. Dan Choi – 2009 SF Pride Celebrity Grand Marshal, anti-DADT activist
Joey Cain – 2008 SF Pride Community Grand Marshal, past Board Member and President of SF Pride
Gary Virginia – 2012 SF Pride Community Grand Marshal
Kate Raphael – 2004 SF Pride Community Grand Marshal; LAGAI – Queer Insurrection
Dr. Carol Queen – 2008 SF Pride Honorary Grand Marshal, 2001 SF Pride Community Grand Marshal, writer, speaker, educator and sex-positive activist
Barry Saiff – 2002 SF Pride Honorary Grand Marshall, Former President of BiNet USA
John O’brien - 1970 Inaugatory Pride Committee member; Stonewall Rebellion Co-Organizer
John Caldera – Commander, American Legion Bob Basker Post 315ED & SF Veterans For Peace
Alice Walker – Pulitzer Prize winning author, poet, womanist, and activist
Leslie Feinberg - Transgender author and activist
Glenn Greenwald - Award-winning journalist
Minnie-Bruce Pratt - Award-winning lesbian writer, anti-racist & anti-imperialist activist
David McReynolds - War Resisters League; first openly gay U.S. presidential candidate
Stephen Eagle Funk - Artistic Director, Veteran Artists
Marshall Brown - United States Air Force veteran
Becca von Behren - Staff Attorney, Swords to Plowshares Veterans Service Organization
Peter Tatchell - Founder, Peter Tatchell Foundation
Troy Abraham - President Of Human Equality Organizations
Luke Adams - Community mental health counselor, minister, and organizer
Orus Barker -Bradley Manning supporter
Dr. Gray Brechin - author Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
Susie Bright - Public speaker, educator, and writer
Adele Carpenter – Civilian-Soldier Alliance, SF Chapter
Merrill Cole - Associate Professor of English, Western Illinois University
Gabriel Conaway – Equality activist; Steering Committee of SAME
Salvatore Conti -Kansas Bradley Manning Support
Su Docekal – Queer Action Coordinator; Freedom Socialist Party; Co-founder, Seattle’s Freedom Day Committee
Dossie Easton – Therapist and author
Rena-paulette Guay - Executive Director, Oklahoma Center for Conscience and Peace Research; Co-founder, Tampa Bay Lesbian & Gay Pride March
Joan P. Gibbs, Esq. – National Conference of Black Lawyers
Evan Greer – Radical queer riotfolk musician
Liz Henry – Poet and activist
Liz Highleyman – journalist and member of ACT UP, San Francisco
Lori Hurlebaus – Civilian Soldier Alliance,  SF Chapter; Co-founder, Courage to Resist
Pat Humphries – Musician, Emma’s Revolution
Sergei Kostin -  Art Director, CODEPINK Women for Peace
Sandy Opatow – Musician, Emma’s Revolution
Malachy Kilbride – Coordinating Committee, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
Drew Langdon - Lavender Green Caucus; Candidate for Rochester, NY City Council
Kendall Lovett – Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne
Jill McLaughlin – World Can’t Wait Steering Committee
Tommi Avicolli Mecca – queer activist, writer and performer, editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: the early years of gay liberation.
Pamela Means – Award-winning OUT musician 
Lori Nairne – Queer Strike, SF Bay Area
Robert Ostertag – Musician and artist
Anne Phoenix – Queer Strike, UK
Starlene Rankin - Lavender Green Caucus co-chair (Green Party)
Rainey Reitman – Steering Committee, Bradley Manning Support Network
Michelle Robidoux – Co-founder, War Resisters Support Campaign
Mannie De Saxe - Lesbian and Gay Solidarity
Martha Shelley – Co-founder, Gay Liberation Front; Radicalesbians, NYC
Oliver Shykles – Queer Friends of Bradley Manning
Starchild – Libertarian National Committee member, sex worker, pro-freedom activist, former candidate for District 8 Supervisor
Jan Steckel - Bisexual Author and Activist
Jon Sugar – Founder, Gay Artist and Writers Kollective; former KPFA radio personality
Andy Thayer – Co-founder, Gay Liberation Network
Lori Selke – Author and activist
Curt Wechsler – editor, Fire John Yoo
Sherry Wolf – author, Sexuality and Socialism
Kit Yan – Queer & trans Asian-American poet
Lee Zaslofsky – Co-founder, War Resisters Support Campaign
Russell Zellers - Former Assistant Director, HIV Health Services AIDS Office, SFDPH

Supporters of Bradley Manning marching in SF Pride 2011. Join us again this year on Sunday, June 30, 2013.

Bradley Manning contingent marching in the SF Pride Parade

Update 4/27 4:05pm: Unfortunately, the SF pride board now disputes the original public announcement of Bradley as grand marshal.  It seems he was a top candidate in the electoral college’s election, but unfortunately may not have won the election after all.  While this news is disappointing, we appreciate the LGBTQ community leaders who nominated and voted for Bradley in the first place.

This year’s SF Pride Parade will be held on June 30. 

By the Bradley Manning Support Network. April 26, 2013.

This Wednesday, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee announced that openly gay Army whistleblower PFC Bradley Manning will be honored as a grand marshal for the largest gathering of LGBT (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) people and allies in the United States. SF Pride describes its grand marshals as “individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community.” 

A group of past grand marshals selected PFC Manning as this year’s sole honoree, bestowing one of the LGBT community’s highest accolades on the soldier who helped reveal unpunished war crimes, the Pentagon’s link to Iraqi torture (as publicized in a recent UK Guardian documentary), and other disturbing and previously secret foreign policies.  

Responding to the announcement, Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee representative Rainey Reitman stated,

The LGBT community is unique in that being a member requires a willingness to disclose the truth about ourselves to the benefit of those around us and society as a whole. As a longstanding Manning supporter, I’m thrilled to see our community publicly embrace his courage in disclosing classified truths about the war in Iraq and other facts which empower the American public to promote smarter future policy.

PFC Manning, awaiting trial for three years behind bars, cannot attend the Pride celebration in-person.  However, Pentagon Papers’ whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg will attend in his stead, and hundreds are expected to march in support of PFC Manning in the parade. In past years, Manning pride contingents have marched in New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston, San Diego, and Los Angeles.  Even wider national support is expected this year, in anticipation of his summer court martial. 

In late February, PFC Manning plead guilty to 10 charges concerning unauthorized use and disclosure of classified information, explaining his desire to promote “debates, discussion and reforms” concerning U.S. foreign policy.  Those 10 charges alone would carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years; nonetheless the U.S. military continues to pursue a life sentence in prison for “aiding the enemy through indirect means.”

Supporters argue that without evidence of any damage done to U.S. national security, this is primarily an attempt to frighten other would-be military whistleblowers.