Chelsea Manning says she was 'humiliated' by prison haircut rule

When the military denied Chelsea Manning‘s request to grow out her hair last month, she was “devastated, humiliated, hurt, and rejected,” Manning wrote in a short article posted on Medium today.

“I didn’t take the news well,” Manning wrote. “I felt sick. I felt sad. I felt gross — like Frankenstein’s monster wandering around the countryside avoiding angry mobs with torches and pitch forks.”

Manning is serving a 35-year sentence at a military prison in Kansas for giving classified information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks.

Manning entered the military prison as Bradley, but in August 2013 announced she is transgender and would go by Chelsea. The military allowed her to access hormone and speech therapy. But the military’s insistence that she keep her hair to the standard “male” length almost made her surrender her battle, Manning wrote. Almost. She plans to appeal the decision, with support from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Manning’s post, titled “Military Haircuts,” is the first in what she said will be a series focusing on her life transitioning in a military hospital. Read it here.