User:Phoebe/manning

Time to move the article to Chelsea Manning
She's made a statement that her name is Chelsea Manning, so the pronouns should be changed to she and the article renamed Chelsea. The FAQ about Brenna no longer applies. 11:59, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Anders Behring Breivik has publicly stated multiple times that he prefers to be referred as "Commander Breivik", should Wikipedia change his page to reflect his self-identity? 85.65.68.209 (talk) 20:35, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Agreed, appears to be pretty unambiguous. What do we think? Morwen (talk) 12:00, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

I also agree based on the evidence. Nicholas Perkins (T•C) 12:13, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * If nothing else, we need an immediate redirect. A search on Chelsea Manning doesn't yield this article, it yield an article about football club Chelsea FC. 68.81.192.33 (talk) 12:15, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Well, I tried a move. Disappointingly, User:Cls14 has reverted immediately back, using a highly gendered term in their edit summary!  I'm assuming this is some kind of misunderstanding over not having read the reference, so will not put it back just yet.  Morwen (talk) 12:27, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

It's pretty confusing to see Manning described with female pronouns for the time in which they served as a male soldier. I recommend to use the male pronoun for the time prior to their recent declaration concerning their identity. As to the article title, that should follow the predominant usage in reliable sources, as everything else.  Sandstein  12:45, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * That would go against long-established practice, and MOS:IDENTITY


 * Any person whose gender might be questioned should be referred to by the gendered nouns (for example "man/woman", "waiter/waitress", "chairman/chairwoman"), pronouns, and possessive adjectives that reflect that person's latest expressed gender self-identification. This applies in references to any phase of that person's life.


 * Morwen (talk) 12:49, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

I have sent Morwen a message about this stating I was unaware of any potential change and as such I thought it was a scam. In the article itself it didn't mention any gender change so I assumed it was spam, which it clearly isn't Cls14 (talk) 12:46, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I did cite the article in my edit summary! Morwen (talk) 12:49, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

It appears that User:Morwen has moved the page to Chelsea Manning for a second time. The move is hasty and without proper consultation with editors. I think this article should be moved back to Bradley Manning until it is confirmed the subject has legally changed his/her name and a majority of reliable sources start referring to this subject as "Chelsea Manning". --Tocino 12:52, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Maybe I'm missing something but AFAIK Bradley wants to be a woman but isn't yet. Also, I don't believe his name has been officially changed to Chelsea. I find this move extremely premature, not to say ridiculous. This is not a Wendy Carlos situation. Yet.  Yinta n  12:55, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm just happy he didn't decide to self-identify as Jesus Christ could you imagine the redirects. SMH. This dude is named Bradley Manning until officially recognized by the courts. Chelsea is what we would call a nickname. †TE†   Talk  13:00, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "Any person whose gender might be questioned should be referred to by the gendered nouns (for example "man/woman", "waiter/waitress", "chairman/chairwoman"), pronouns, and possessive adjectives that reflect that person's latest expressed gender self-identification. " from MOS:IDENTITY. Tombomp (talk/contribs) 13:02, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Many sources are still reporting the name as Bradley Manning. For instance: The Telegraph: Bradley Manning wants to live as a woman called Chelsea, Washington Post: Bradley Manning says he is now a woman named Chelsea, BBC: Bradley Manning: 'I want to be a woman', The Independent: Bradley Manning wants to live as a woman, Channel 14: Bradley Manning: I want to be a woman (called Chelsea), RT: #FreeChelsea: Bradley Manning states he's 'female', wants to live as ‘Chelsea’, ABC News: Bradley Manning Says He Wants to Live as a Woman and Today: Bradley Manning: I want to live as a woman. Sources even referrer to the person as "he". I think article move was hasted.  Mohamed CJ  (talk)  13:04, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "Self-identification". What other sources refer to her as is irrelevant. She has self identified as female, and by MOS:IDENTITY that means the article should use female pronouns. Casiotonetalk 13:09, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * After reading MOS:IDENTITY, I think we should use female gender nouns, pronouns and possessive adjectives, because that's her latest expressed gender self-identification.  Mohamed CJ  (talk)  13:15, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * In other words, we have to follow whatever a person decides to call his/herself this week? No. MOS:IDENTITY says "Any person whose gender might be questioned should be referred to (etc)". There is, as yet, no question about Manning's gender at all.  Yinta n  13:17, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * We wouldn't be having this discussion if there was no question about her gender.  Mohamed CJ  (talk)  13:19, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * You're absolutely right, of course - there is no longer a question about Manning's gender. She is female without doubt. I'm glad you agree. Casiotonetalk 13:23, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "I also request that starting today you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun."--Brian Dell (talk) 13:06, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * He can request all he likes, Bdel555, that doesn't make it true. Or factual.  Yinta n  13:08, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

He signed his...I mean (no kidding intended) ... she signed her name "Chelsea E. Manning" on the Today Show statement, but indicated that his name in official mail to the detention facility is still Bradley Manning. Here is the statement:

Subject: The Next Stage of My Life

I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years. Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and encouragement have helped keep me strong. I am forever indebted to those who wrote to me, made a donation to my defense fund, or came to watch a portion of the trial. I would especially like to thank Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network for their tireless efforts in raising awareness for my case and providing for my legal representation.

As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.

Thank you,

Chelsea E. Manning Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 13:09, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Chelsea's statement is very clear and seems almost designed to invoke MOS:IDENTITY, which is also very clear. I regard this matter as a WP:BLP area.     Morwen (talk) 13:17, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * And the sources are equally clear that it's still "he". Wikipedia is not supposed to be an advocate, it's supposed to report valid sources. You need to revert this article back to where it was, until such time as the sources starting calling him "her". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:42, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Thank you so much for renaming the article. But the pronouns used for her throughout the article are still inconsistent. What does the E in Chelsea E. Manning stand for? --88.73.34.231 (talk) 14:17, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Where is a source for "Chelsea E. Manning"? It could be that Manning has decided to drop the middle name. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:19, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Easy. . L Faraone  15:02, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

What would you do if s/he self-identified as a dog, cat, broomstick, or banana then? Self-identification is not the same as legal identity


 * Shouldn't we be relying on this individual's legal name? Does going on the Today show and saying "actually this is my name now" have any validity? This of course brushing aside any issue around the timing one day after his/her sentencing that is clearly to garner public sympathy (after all, why all the hooplah and public announcements? 15 seconds of fame?)... The way this is going we'll have to move the article with every new adjustment to his name. -  Floydian  τ ¢  17:57, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, going on the Today show and publically announcing your change of name to the world is legally effective in many common law jursdictions, including most US states. See legal name and name change. —Psychonaut (talk) 18:15, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

What a joke. The guys says he is Chelsea Manning and the people who run this "encyclopedia" rush to change the pronouns? You have got to be kidding me. If I wake up in the morning and decide I am a woman, it doesn't make it so. This absolutely reeks of political correctness.74.138.45.132 (talk) 19:49, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Time for New Section on Gender Identity Issues?
I created a subsection for the BACKGROUND part of the article for his gender reassignment. This may only be a temporary thing. Should there be a seperate section collecting information on his gender issues? (I seem to be having an issue with his gender as I just realized I used the masculine pronoun for Chelsea.)Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 13:18, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

The whole gender issue is ridiculous. Just because a person wants to change gender does not make it so. To the outside world he is still a man. Some people would like themselves to be called ´king´ or ´jesus´, but that does not mean the public acknowledge that. Also the term ´gender reassignment surgery´, why not call it what it is, a sex change operation. Are we going to call a kidney transplantation a ´kidney reassignment surgery´ too? By all means he can have surgery, wear women's clothes or have himself transformed into a dolphin, but leave wikipedia out of it. Bradley Manning was a man for the first 25 years of his life, and will remain so until he has surgery, legal name change and sufficient consensus. And even if that does happen, it won´t undo the fact that she was a man for the first 25+ year of her life and should be described as a ´he´ for those years.


 * If one believes that "gender is what's between the ears, sex is what's between the legs" then the correct term is sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) because psychological gender cannot be modified surgically. 2001:5C0:1000:A:0:0:0:49D (talk) 00:33, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

This is why Wikipedia is such a sad, pathetic joke
Bradley Manning is the person's name, legally. I have no idea what is going on here, and assumed the article was vandalized, until I read all the nonsense above. I would have expected a speedy revert until a *reliable source* indiciated otherwise. Can an adult editor please step in? 198.161.2.241 (talk) 13:23, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Hello. Admin of ten years standing here. today.com is a reliable source.  Morwen (talk) 13:25, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * No need to flash your badge, officer, but the manner in which this hasty move has been executed is a bit ridiculous. Surely you can see that? †TE†   Talk  13:32, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * What do you find to be hasty? Unless we aren't taking the Today Show as a reliable source, Manning's expression is public, and we should adjust our titles to reflect the policy of deference to LGBT self-identity. If you have a problem with that general policy, then we can talk about that. But Morwen is 100% correct that everyone needs a rebuttal. -- \/\/slack (talk) 14:01, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "deference to LGBT self-identity" - so the majority should just go along with the minority because we're scared to offend people? obviously it was a hasty move, look how contentious it has been (currently re-move supports outnumber opposes).  Clinton   (talk)
 * Yes, it's ridiculous the number of people making transphobic arguments against a fairly straightforward page move. It's ridiculous that anyone would think they saying new here that hasn't been hashed out before, that we are supposed to rebut each one individually. Morwen (talk) 13:37, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "Transphobic"? Am I missing something?  Yinta n  13:45, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The theory being that Manning isn't allowed to decide how we should refer to her. That lack of deference to her wishes constitutes a lack of respect / transphobia. -- \/\/slack (talk) 14:01, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * 
 * The overriding "theory" is that we follow common names and valid sourcing. Maybe it will be there tomorrow, but it isn't there today. Editors who want to abuse Wikipedia for the sake of advocacy have been itching to make this move for many months now. They have moved too soon, and make Wikipedia live down to the level its critics accuse it of being. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:16, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The sourcing is valid. MOS:IDENTITY is clear. Take your soapbox somewhere else. AndyTheGrump (talk) 14:19, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * MOS does not override sourcing. Take your own soapbox somewhere else. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:20, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * We have multiple mainstream media sources reporting Manning's statement. If you wish to make even more of a fool of your self and argue that they aren't reliable, do so at WP:RSN. AndyTheGrump (talk) 14:25, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Reporting the statement, yes. He asked the media to start calling him "she". Once the media broadly starts doing that, then you'll have an argument. You don't, yet. The only fool that's being made of with this advocacy-driven change is Wikipedia itself. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:28, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * My argument is based on what MOS:IDENTITY says. As it was when I opposed attempts to rename Manning as Breanna, prior to Manning making the statement. If you wish to argue that MOS:IDENTITY is wrong, this isn't the place to do so. AndyTheGrump (talk) 14:41, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The MOS is the opinion of Wikipedians. It does not override sourcing. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:43, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Manning herself constitutes a higher-level of source than the mass media Rhialto (talk) 15:52, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * This happens to be wikipedia and not a newspaper. So the MOS has relevance over your sourcing rules.

190.103.67.169 (talk) 19:06, 22 August 2013 (UTC) There is no "theory" about how we refer to HIM. HE is man biologically and legally. He is in prison without access to any medical procedure to assist him in any changes. As stated elsewhere on this page, I could declare myself as the King of England, but it doesn't mean Wikipedia will suddenly refer to me as His Majesty.198.161.2.241 (talk) 19:10, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * If you think that going around declaring yourself the King of England is remotely comparable to a real, legitimate medical condition that presents real, legitimate WP:BLP issues, you need a slap upside the head with the biggest fish in the Atlantic Ocean. Bearcat (talk) 04:00, 23 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I agree, this whole page just shows how biased Wikipedian's and therefore Wikipedia is.
 * I'll have to find the article, but there was this dude who said he was King of something or other and there was a huge brouhaha over whether he should be called king, ect. You really can't make this stuff up. I am still trying to wrap my head around Shin Dong-hyuk. --Malerooster (talk) 21:09, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Several comments on this page have ridiculed transgendered people in general, and compared a human being born a male who makes a declaration that they feel they are female and want to be called a female to the person claiming they are a King or Jesus or an animal or whatever. The who issue of transgender identity should not be made light of. Gender identity is more than genitalia, and it not the province of Wikipedia editors to override the declared gender identity of someone. Edison (talk) 03:13, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Welcome to Feelopedia, the free online encyclopedia that cares for what people might feel. --Niemti (talk) 12:31, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

A person's legal name is irrelevant to the question of what the article title should be. The rapper whose legal name is James Todd Smith, for instance, has his article at LL Cool J, not at "James Todd Smith". Bearcat (talk) 03:57, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Wow, just wow, if only so much effort could be concentrated by editors in to reaching a consensus instead of deviating from it then we'd all be better off instead of expending so much energy on Wikipedia trying to demonstrate why X does not equal Y.5 Badanagram (talk) 19:15, 23 August 2013 (UTC)