Chelsea Manning: Five Years

Free Chelsea Manning.

PS Chelsea writes for The Guardian Comment Is Free.

Today marks five years since I was ordered into military confinement while deployed to Iraq in 2010. I find it difficult to believe, at times, just how long I have been in prison. Throughout this time, there have been so many ups and downs – it often feels like a physical and emotional roller coaster.

It all began in the first few weeks of 2010, when I made the life-changing decision to release to the public a repository of classified (and unclassified but “sensitive” ) documents that provided a simultaneously horrific and beautiful outlook on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. After spending months preparing to deploy toAfghanistan in 2008, switching to Iraq in 2009 and actually staying in Iraq from 2009-10, I quickly and fully recognized the importance of these documents to the world at large...

PPS The Fight To Free Chelsea Manning, The Nation.

Chelsea Manning: Mastermind

'What is the name of the American army intelligence analyst who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking secret documents in August 2013?''

'Bradley Manning.'

'Yes. Or Chelsea Manning as he eventually wanted to be known.'

The last question and answer in episode 23 of this season's Mastermind.

You gotta give John Humphrys some credit for trying, no?

PS Military finally begins gender-related care for Chelsea Manning - CMSN.

Chelsea Manning: Write Now

US Army Private Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison on 21 August 2013, after leaking classified US government material to the website Wikileaks. Some of the documents pointed to potential human rights violations and breaches of humanitarian law by US troops abroad, as well as by Afghan and Iraqi forces operating alongside the US army, and the CIA.

Chelsea says she was trying to spark a meaningful debate on the costs of war and raise awareness of US military conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan. But she wasn’t allowed as part of her defence to say that she was acting in the public interest. What’s more, further unnecessary charges were brought against her, including ‘aiding the enemy’. Such charges appeared to be an attempt to put off future whistleblowers seeking to expose government wrongdoing.

While awaiting trial, Chelsea was detained for three years, and spent eleven months in conditions described by a UN torture expert as ‘cruel and inhumane’. These included being confined for 23 hours a day to a small cell with no window to the outside.

Amnesty want you to sign a petition to President Obama (of 'He broke the law!' fame) - then, I'm sure, everything will be just fine.

PS Not sure how the film she leaked of US troops gunning down 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians shows 'possible human rights abuses', but on this we must beg to differ.

Queer Friends Of Chelsea Manning: Proud

Queer+ Friends Of Chelsea Manning will be at Pride events this summer in London, Manchester, Brighton and Chester.

'If you'd like to join us, get in touch, we'll send more info!'

Chelsea Manning: Disclosure

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — WHEN I chose to disclose classified information in 2010, I did so out of a love for my country and a sense of duty to others. I’m now serving a sentence of 35 years in prison for these unauthorized disclosures. I understand that my actions violated the law.

However, the concerns that motivated me have not been resolved. As Iraq erupts in civil war and America again contemplates intervention, that unfinished business should give new urgency to the question of how the United States military controlled the media coverage of its long involvement there and in Afghanistan. I believe that the current limits on press freedom and excessive government secrecy make it impossible for Americans to grasp fully what is happening in the wars we finance.

If you were following the news during the March 2010 elections in Iraq, you might remember that the American press was flooded with stories declaring the elections a success, complete with upbeat anecdotes and photographs of Iraqi women proudly displaying their ink-stained fingers. The subtext was that United States military operations had succeeded in creating a stable and democratic Iraq.

Those of us stationed there were acutely aware of a more complicated reality.

Military and diplomatic reports coming across my desk detailed a brutal crackdown against political dissidents by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and federal police, on behalf of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Detainees were often tortured, or even killed.

Early that year, I received orders to investigate 15 individuals whom the federal police had arrested on suspicion of printing “anti-Iraqi literature.” I learned that these individuals had absolutely no ties to terrorism; they were publishing a scholarly critique of Mr. Maliki’s administration. I forwarded this finding to the officer in command in eastern Baghdad. He responded that he didn’t need this information; instead, I should assist the federal police in locating more “anti-Iraqi” print shops.

I was shocked by our military’s complicity in the corruption of that election. Yet these deeply troubling details flew under the American media’s radar.

It was not the first (or the last) time I felt compelled to question the way we conducted our mission in Iraq. We intelligence analysts, and the officers to whom we reported, had access to a comprehensive overview of the war that few others had. How could top-level decision makers say that the American public, or even Congress, supported the conflict when they didn’t have half the story?

Among the many daily reports I received via email while working in Iraq in 2009 and 2010 was an internal public affairs briefing that listed recently published news articles about the American mission in Iraq. One of my regular tasks was to provide, for the public affairs summary read by the command in eastern Baghdad, a single-sentence description of each issue covered, complementing our analysis with local intelligence.

The more I made these daily comparisons between the news back in the States and the military and diplomatic reports available to me as an analyst, the more aware I became of the disparity. In contrast to the solid, nuanced briefings we created on the ground, the news available to the public was flooded with foggy speculation and simplifications...

New York Times.

Continue reading the main story...

PS Chelsea Manning Speaks - But Who Listened? Peter Hart, FAIR.

Chelsea Manning: The Graphic Novel

Clark Stoeckley's graphic account from inside the Chelsea Manning trial is released today, marking its first anniversary. We exclusively excerpt Chelsea Manning's testimony on her treatment in prison. Content warning: state violence, discussion of suicide.

The United States Vs Pvt Chelsea Manning is available exclusively from OR Books.

PS It's thanks to Chelsea we can read things like this; a prescient 2008 cable from the US ambassador in Moscow on NATO enlargement, Russia and Ukraine.

Steve Bell, The Guardian June 4th.

Chelsea Manning: Correction Facilty

Late last night [May 13], an AP article reported that unidentified Pentagon officials had indicated that the Office of the Secretary of Defense might transfer Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison facility so that she could receive treatment for gender dysphoria.

Chelsea responded to the report concerning her potential transfer as follows:

“I wish to clarify that my request for a treatment plan did not involve any request to be transferred. At the beginning of 2014, the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, KS and the Army Corrections Command were ready to approve and implement a treatment plan that at least conservatively met the standards set forth by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. I was content with this plan. Based on these facts I don’t understand why the Office of the Secretary of Defense would feel the need to punt this issue by transferring me.”

Chelsea’s trial attorney, David Coombs, also issued a strong response to this announcement. You can read David Coombs’ statement on his blog.

"Whether the Pentagon likes it or not, Chelsea is a military service member and responsibility for her falls on the military. Although a very small number of military inmates are transferred to federal prison each year, this is only after all appeals have been exhausted and the military inmate has been discharged from the service. Chelsea’s appeals have not yet begun and her transfer to federal prison in these circumstances would be unprecedented. Chelsea has been asking for medical treatment from the military for the past ten months. So far, the military has outright ignored her requests. The military absolutely needs to revisit its “policy” on transgender medical care and adapt it to 21st century medical standards. It cannot continue to bury its head in the sand any longer."

Chelsea Manning Support Network.

So the story that appeared in the mainstream media just parroted the official line?

You surprise me!

Chelsea Manning: On Change

Today is an exciting day. A judge in the state of Kansas has officially ordered my name to be changed from “Bradley Edward Manning” to “Chelsea Elizabeth Manning.” I’ve been working for months for this change, and waiting for years.

It’s worth noting that in both mail and in-person, I’ve often been asked, “Why are you changing your name?” The answer couldn’t be simpler: because it’s a far better, richer, and more honest reflection of who I am and always have been –a woman named Chelsea.

But there is another question I’ve been asked nearly as much, “why are you making this request of the Leavenworth district court?” This is a more complicated question, but the short answer is simple: because I have to...

I’m optimistic that things can –and certainly will –change for the better. There are so many people in America today that are willing and open to discuss trans-related issues. Hopefully today’s name change, while so meaningful to me personally, can also raise awareness of the fact that we trans* people exist everywhere in America today, and that we have must jump through hurdles every day just for being who we are. If I’m successful in obtaining access to trans healthcare, it will not only be something I have wanted for a long time myself, but it will also open the door for many people, both inside and outside the military, to request the right to live more open, fulfilled lives...

Chelsea Manning Support Network.

PS Chelsea is still 'technically' a male prisoner and held in a men's prison...

Update: And how Fox News reported it. Stay classy.

Chelsea Manning: Finally Allowed To Be Proud

Today, the nation’s largest Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration Committee announced on its website that WikiLeaks whistle-blower Chelsea Manning has been chosen to represent the event as a2014 Honorary Grand Marshal.

Manning thanked the San Francisco Pride Committee from Fort Leavenworth military prison, declaring, “As a trans* woman, I appreciate the Pride movement’s significant role in bringing together diverse communities and elevating the public profile of the fight for queer rights. I have always enjoyed attending Pride celebrations given the opportunity, and I’m deeply honored to receive this title.”

Manning explained that she prefers “Trans*” (with an asterisk) to denote not only transgender men and women, but also those who identify outside of a gender binary.

Chelsea Manning has been working with artist Alicia Neal to illustrate how she sees herself, and wishes to look after receiving treatment for gender dysphoria at Fort Leavenworth military prison. The initial sketch for the portrait is being shared publicly for the first time today to coincide with the SF Pride announcement...

Chelsea Manning Support Network. - note recent name change in solidarity.

Betcha this all goes wrong.

Update Monday 14: Army rejects clemency for Chelsea Manning.

Correction Of The Day: Guardian Film Blog

Guardian.

Bit ironic when you start by mocking getting someone's name wrong.

Obviously Fagburn never makes any mistakes or hilarious fuck-ups like this - hell no!

Chelsea Manning: Sam Adams Award 2014

This is Chelsea's preferred photo - there are no recent ones, obvs.

When the public lacks the ability to access what its government is doing, it ceases to be involved in the governing process. There is a distinct difference between citizens, in which people are entitled to rights and privileges protected by and from the state, and subjects, in which people are placed under the absolute authority and control of the state. In essence, this is the difference between tyranny and freedom. To echo a maxim from Milton and Foes Friedman: a society that puts secrecy – in the sense of state secrecy – ahead of transparency and accountability will end up neither secure nor free.

From Chelsea Manning's acceptance statement.

Edward Snowden addresses the Oxford Union by videolink yesterday as Chelsea receives the Sam Adams Award For Integrity And Intelligence.

Chelsea Manning: Happy Birthday

It's Chelsea Manning's 26th birthday.
The fourth she has spent behind bars.
In August Chelsea was sentenced to 35 years in military prison for whistleblowing.
Earlier this month Marine A was sentenced to ten years for murdering an Afghan insurgent in cold blood.
The sort of war crime Private Manning exposed.

• Private Manning Support Network.

Update: Trafalgar Square vigil, this afternoon, via Queer Friends Of Chelsea Manning.

It only belatedly came to Fagburn's attention that it is also the birthday of Pope Francis. 

So thanks again to The Advocate for choosing his pope-iness as their Person Of The Year and ignoring Chelsea.

PS The Manning Truthfest, Haverfordwest, Wales, January 10th-11th 2014. In aid of the Pvt Manning Family Fund.

John Waters: A Christmas Gift For You

What have been some of your best gifts?

It’s not about the money. It’s about spending the time. A friend once gave me the three-volume set of John Simon’s criticism. That’s hard to top. Another friend gave me a Poor Pitiful Pearl doll. She has a flowered dress and a peasant scarf and looks like Nikita Khrushchev’s wife. She’s a Communist. One Christmas, Dennis Dermody, the movie critic of Paper, gave me “Rock Hudson: A Gathering of Friends,” the master invitation list from Rock Hudson’s memorial service. It’s so great. Everyone’s in it, with personal addresses all bound into a book. Someone else once gave me Ike Turner’s will. I get great stuff.

Are there gifts that got away?

I would love to get Visconti’s ascot, and I’ve been trying for years to get Brigid Berlin to give me a prescription bottle of Obetrol, Andy Warhol’s diet pills.

Is there a John Waters version of a lump of coal?

The rudest possible gift is a gift card. It means you think the person is stupid and has no interests. The only good gift card is Bitcoin. You practically have to be a hacker to know about it. I want a Bitcoin gift certificate. That’s a glamorous gift card. You can use it to buy hit men or drugs.

What kind of gifts do you give?

I always give books. And I always ask for books. I think you should reward people sexually for getting you books. Don’t send a thank-you note, repay them with sexual activity. If the book is rare or by your favorite author or one you didn’t know about, reward them with the most perverted sex act you can think of. Otherwise, you can just make out...

Season's Greetings, With A Wink. New York Times.

Via Chase Madar - whose book, The Passion Of Bradley Manning, would make a great Xmas gift. x

Chelsea Manning: Thanksgiving Day

I’m usually hesitant to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. After all, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony systematically terrorized and slaughtered the very same Pequot tribe that assisted the first English refugees to arrive at Plymouth Rock. So, perhaps ironically, I’m thankful that I know that, and I’m also thankful that there are people who seek out, and usually find, such truths. I’m thankful for people who, even surrounded by millions of Americans eating turkey during regularly scheduled commercial breaks in the Green Bay and Detroit football game; who, despite having been taught, often as early as five and six years old, that the “helpful natives” selflessly assisted the “poor helpless Pilgrims” and lived happily ever after, dare to ask probing, even dangerous, questions.

Such people are often nameless and humble, yet no less courageous. Whether carpenters of welders; retail clerks or bank managers; artists or lawyers, they dare to ask tough questions, and seek out the truth, even when the answers they find might not be easy to live with.

I’m also grateful for having social and human justice pioneers who lead through action, and by example, as opposed to directing or commanding other people to take action. Often, the achievements of such people transcend political, cultural, and generational boundaries. Unfortunately, such remarkable people often risk their reputations, their livelihood, and, all too often, even their lives.

For instance, the man commonly known as Malcolm X began to openly embrace the idea, after an awakening during his travels to the Middle East and Africa, of an international and unifying effort to achieve equality, and was murdered after a tough, yearlong defection from the Nation of Islam. Martin Luther King Jr., after choosing to embrace the struggles of striking sanitation workers in Memphis over lobbying in Washington, D.C., was murdered by an escaped convict seeking fame and respect from white Southerners. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in the U.S., was murdered by a jealous former colleague. These are only examples; I wouldn’t dare to make a claim that they represent an exhaustive list of remarkable pioneers of social justice and equality—certainly many if not the vast majority are unsung and, sadly, forgotten.

So, this year, and every year, I’m thankful for such people, and I’m thankful that one day—perhaps not tomorrow—because of the accomplishments of such truth-seekers and human rights pioneers, we can live together on this tiny “pale blue dot” of a planet and stop looking inward, at each other, but rather outward, into the space beyond this planet and the future of all of humanity.

Chelsea Manning, formerly named Bradley, is serving a 35-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Time magazine.

Well done to all the gay media who ran this - it more than makes up for all the months/years you completely ignored Chelsea's story when she was in prison and your coverage might have made a real difference.

Manning was arrested in May 2010.
First mention of the case on Pink News March 2011.
First mention on Pink Paper (RIP) December 2011!

Chelsea Manning: Is this photo real?

• Main portrait, top, by Robert Shetterley. I understand from Private Manning Support Network that Chelsea is happy with such illustrations being used for now.
Time uses this photo here of Bradley Manning - as was - in drag, as do many other media now.
Does anyone else think it looks Photoshopped?
Maybe from this picture?

Chelsea Manning: A Statement

I happen to agree with [my attorney David E Coombs'] statement that I was “motivated in my actions not only by transparency beliefs, but also by [my] deep concern for the value of human life.”

These are not mutually exclusive values; rather I see my concern for human life as providing a solid foundation to my dedication to transparency.

I also agree with the [Private Manning Support Network] “that [my] actions in 2010 intersect crucially not only with issues of information transparency but also with a critical discussion about US wars and foreign policy”.

However I would personally extend this further and broaden this intersection of transparency and the value of human life with those of a need for equality and respect for all people regardless of: skin complexion, eye color, or hair color; who your parents are; the geographic location you or your parents were born; what you believe or don’t believe; what gender you were assigned or identify as; who you are physically and emotionally attracted to; what job you have or how much money your family makes; whether you’re incarcerated or formerly incarcerated, or your physical and intellectual ability...

Statement sent via Private Manning Support Network.

Read the letter in full here.

For background to this and the confusions over Chelsea's recent letter to the Guardian regarding the Sean MacBride Peace Prize see WISE Up Action Network.
In this memorandum Manning confirms she is requesting a presidential pardon and commutation of her sentence, treatment for gender dysphoria, and a legal change of name - these last two may have to go to court.

PS Wikipedia's argument over Chelsea/Bradley Manning continues...

• The Pvt Manning Family Fund is raising money to help her relatives in Wales afford to visit her in prison in the US.

Update: The Advocate on how the US media dealt with Chelsea coming out as trans, ie not very well.

Chelsea Manning: Two Statements

Earlier today, a story was published in the Guardian by Ed Pilkington regarding Chelsea Manning's reaction to receiving the 2013 Sean MacBride Peace Award. In this letter, Chelsea stated that she was not informed that she had received the award or that Col. Ann Wright was accepting the award on her behalf. She also indicated that she did not consider herself a "pacifist," "anti-war," or a "conscientious objector."

I had a phone call with Chelsea this morning. We discussed the letter that she sent to the Guardian. I reminded her that we spoke about the Sean MacBride Peace Award on three separate occasions: once when she received the award; once prior to Col. Wright accepting the award on her behalf; and once when the award was delivered into my physical possession and I informed her that the medal was made out of disarmed and recycled nuclear weapons systems. 

After being reminded of these conversations, Chelsea indicated that she did, in fact, remember the award and our discussions about it. She told me that she got confused when she recently received mail about the award, and assumed that people were writing to her about a new award. Chelsea told me that she has been feeling isolated and out of touch with the outside world during the indoctrination period at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, which is what led to her confusion over this issue. Due to this confusion, Chelsea said she felt the need to write her letter. She told me that she is sorry if her letter caused any offense to the International Peace Bureau, Col. Wright, or her supporters.

There are three other issues raised by Chelsea's letter that I would like to personally address. First, as mentioned above, Chelsea indicates that she doesn't consider herself a "pacifist," "anti-war," or a "conscientious objector." Rather, she considers herself a "transparency advocate" because she believes "the public cannot decide what actions and polices are or are not justified if they don't even know the most rudimentary details about them and their effects." Chelsea has never claimed to be anti-war; indeed she joined the military to defend her country. However, she is a humanist and was motivated in her actions not only by her transparency beliefs, but also by deep concern for the value of human life...

The start of an open letter by Chelsea Manning's lawyer, David E Coombs.

Here's the now updated Guardian article - and a scan of Chelsea's original letter.

Fagburn's not quite sure why this is being hyped up as Big News.

Did anyone think Manning was an anarcho-communist dedicated to overthrowing the American military-industrial complex?

He was a soldier who learned of immoral and criminal acts that had been committed in secret and so - being a moral agent - chose to expose them.

• A new RT video interview with Noam Chomsky: All superpowers feel exceptional, inflate security myth for ‘frightened population’, which touches on Manning and Snowden.

NB Although she now wishes to be known as Ms Chelsea E Manning, according to the Private Manning Support Group the photograph at the top is the one she prefers to be used at present.
The Daily Telegraph today write about "Bradley Manning" and refer to her as male throughout!

Starr Forum: The Passion of Chelsea Manning

Can't imagine this'll be very busy, so if you're passing tomorrow, please pop in and help make up the numbers...

LIVE BLOG HERE

Chelsea Manning: Corrections And Clarifications

A subheading on an interview with Benedict Cumberbatch (Wanted man, 14 September, page 34, Weekend) said he talked about "why Chelsea Manning deserved her sentence". This did not accurately reflect a long and nuanced interview in which Cumberbatch said that though he thought the sentence was very severe, he understood why Manning had to be convicted. Since the interview, he has clarified that he thinks Manning should be pardoned, but that that is unlikely to happen.

The Guardian. 

The actual paragraph reads;

As for Bradley, now Chelsea, Manning, the young US army officer who leaked hundreds of thousands of war logs, diplomatic cables and other US state secrets to Assange and has just been sentenced to 35 years, Cumberbatch is sympathetic on a human level. "But he broke a law. He knew what he was doing." Manning has applied for a presidential pardon, but Cumberbatch can't see why Obama should grant it. "He did what he did out of a conviction that an alarm bell needed to be sounded. But his superiors might have been right to say to him, it's not your position to be worried about it within the hierarchy of the military organisation, which is why he had to be sentenced. He took an oath, and he broke that oath."

The journalist, Decca Aitkenhead, commented astutely; "This sounds to me like the former public schoolboy in Cumberbatch speaking..."

After Cumberbatch complained about being misrepresented, The Guardian published online an unedited transcript of his comments on Chelsea.
Here's a withering critique of Cucumberpatch's words by Alexander Reed Kelly on Truthdig; "What is heartbreaking about this set of sentences? Aside from the abandonment of the notion that individuals are obligated to the best of their ability to discover and struggle for what is right—especially as they grow up—it’s the contradiction involved in simultaneous claims to sympathy for one’s fellow humans and unthinking deference to authority."

• Queer+ Friends Of Chelsea Manning.

Cumberbatch is set to play Alan Turing in a biopic. Fagburn wonders if BC believes Turing deserved to be arrested and chemically castrated, too.

Exclusive: Putin 'Murders Gay Puppy'!

President Putin, the Russian president of Russia, has apparently killed a gay puppy with his own bare hands, Fagburn can exclusively reveal.
The photo above shows the clearly terrified little doggy-woggy, just moments away from certain death.
It is taken from a shocking new video that no-one has actually seen, but Radio Free Europe/Voice Of America - a highly-respected independent news outlet funded by the US state department - has said definitely exists.
They say Putin can apparently be heard calling the dog "my beautiful little bitch" and trying to sexually humiliate it by threatening to "give it a bone".

There are fears this could just be the beginning of the mass extermination of all gay puppies in Russia.
"I fear this could be the beginning of the mass extermination of all gay puppies in Russia," commented national treasure, Stephen Fry. "I spent an afternoon in St Petersburg last year, and I can tell you these adorable little doe-eyed balls of fluffiness are treated like dogs."
Mr Fry has called for a show of solidarity by all entrants at next year's Cruft's Dog Show wearing a big pink bow.

Playwright Havey Fierstein was not alone in pointing out this all has chilling echoes of Nazi Germany; "This is exactly how Hitler started. First he killed his alsatian, Blondi, in his Berlin bunker, then he gassed all the Jews. Except this time, Poo-tin is killing gay puppies right now. In secret."
Fierstein claims that in Moscow specially trained "dog-handlers" round up "stray" dogs and intern them in specially-constructed "dog homes".
It is understood many have been "put down". 

Leading American gay journalist and mediawhore, Dan Savage, has urged for a mass boycott of Choco Choco Doggy Treats, which are made in Baltimore.
"Enough is e-fuckin'-nuff! Time to hit the Russians where it hurts! All gay men and our straight allies must stop buying Choco Choco Doggy Treats immediately! Even if they don't have a dog."
"Money talks! Let's make it bark!"
And if that doesn't work? "I think we should invade Russia, just like I kept saying we should invade Iraq."
Asked if his boycott was ill-thought-out and pointless, Savage told Fagburn; "It's working! There's no reports of Putin killing any other gay puppies today."
"The fact that Putin isn't doing something now that he wasn't doing before proves the protest - which was organised by me, incidentally - is working."

The #boycottchoco campaign has rapidly caught on worldwide - Manhole, a gay bar in London's trendy Soho, has sent out a press release saying they will not sell Choco Choco Doggy Treats to their customers - and pointing out that they currently have a wide range of tantalising drinks offers most nights.
Veteran gay rights campaigner, the normally publicity-shy Peter Tatchell, has promised to bombard the media with press releases quoting himself, and photos of himself, until someone prints one.
But the campaign's most famous supporter has to be Ian Brady.
The Moors murderer has posted a selfie on his Facebook page where he holds up a sign reading; "#Boycottchoco! Won't somebody please think of the children!?"

Yesterday, America's most right-wing Neo-con gay loon, James Kirchick, took over a live TV debate on Russia Today about Syria to bring attention to the non-existent gay puppy pogrom.
Donning a comedy rainbow bowtie that spins round and round, he told their dozens of viewers; "You know what? Fuck Syria. America should just bomb it back to the stone age. Then we should get all our sexy US marines to march on Moscow."
After launching into a barely coherent tirade about how Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald should be publically hanged as traitors in a Walmart carpark, the censors at Russia Today immediately cut-off Kirchick after half-an-hour.

Patrick Smugtwit, a gay journalist famed for his stunningly original and intellectual articles, has written online; "I literally weep for the Russian gay puppies. No-one feels their pain as much as me. Boo-hoo-hoo. Why has there been such silence about this, apart from all the articles about it? Imagine if this was happening to black puppies!"
In a statement, Sebastian Posh-Twit from LGBTory - the Conservative party's gay group - slammed the Russian premier; "Although our party has a long history of supporting the torturing of puppies for fun and political gain, we have changed, and now only use them for hunting foxes."

But it's not just the gay right who are angry about this - many apolitical gay men are now pretending they care by leaving ever madder and ill-informed comments on gay media message boards.
One - @keverrett69 - posted recently; "LETZ BOMB THE RUSSIAN SCUM! 4 THE LOLZ!!!"

A spokesman for Puppy Love (мальчишеское увлечение), Russia's leading dog advocacy group, told Fagburn they thought this was all "hysterical and rather silly and based on wilful misinformation."
"I think there might be a hidden agenda here, where, once again, an officially declared enemy of the US is obediently demonised by the media in the service of Western power and neo-imperial American hegemony," he said.
"There are far, far worse things happening to gay men in many other countries now - and the US and UK are hardly queer utopias - so maybe people should stop and ask why the situation in Russia has suddenly got such obsessive, endless blanket coverage?"
"Any rational person would see this as an outbreak of mass hysteria."
"Basically you can say any old shit about Russia right now and get away with it."
But what would he know, he's a fucking filthy Russian?

• Protests have been organised in cities around the world next Friday, where people are invited to take part in a mass Pissing Against The Wind - or, if they can't be arsed, they can make themselves feel better by clicking on one of those AllOut.org e-petitions that politicians always ignore.

Hillary Rodham Clinton: War Criminal, Gay Icon...

The Elton John AIDS foundation is to honour former US secretary of state, senator and first lady Hillary Clinton at the foundation’s award ceremony in October.
The foundation’s inaugural Founder’s Award will be given to Clinton on 15 October, and comes following a 2011 speech on International Human Rights Day during which she said gay rights were human rights, and that recognition of that would help to lead to a world free of HIV and AIDS.
The former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, officially announced her support for equal marriage in a moving speech back in March in which she called moves towards equality “breathtaking and inspiring”...

Pink News.*

She gave one speech at the UN.
Hoofuckingrah!
Here's Fagburn on that laughably lame speech - from when I used to be funny and wasn't quite so bitter.
Remember when Pride London gave her another made-up award knowing full-well she wouldn't turn up?
In no way is she only given these gongs cause richgays will pay plenty handbag in the hope of her seeing her at some lavish do! 
And she only came out for equal marriage in March.
How many queers has she killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya...
Well, if this little lady doesn't deserve an award for services to The Gays I don't know who the felch does.
Thank you for the drones, babes.

“Hillary told staff that she could not fathom how an army private, Bradley Manning, with psychological problems and a drag-queen boyfriend could single-handedly cause the United States unprecedented embarrassment just by labeling massive downloads as Lady Gaga songs.”

Vanity Fair, 2011 (Not a direct quote, of course).

* Not picking on Pink News, I'm sure once they wake up other gay media will be equally fawning.
And, for the record, the Elton John Aids Foundation, appears to be one of the most transparent and accountable HIV/Aids charities around.
Various journalists have tried to dig up dirt, I understand they found none.
You could even defend EJAF as a noble Robin Hood set-up; taking from the rich to give to the poor.
Fagburn's attempt at balanced reporting there.