Seriously, I think many of you need to chill out for a while

When he was arrested, held under inhumane conditions, charged, tried, and convicted for passing national secrets to Wikileaks, he was known as Bradley Manning, and still is to much of the world. Physiologically, Manning is still male. Biochemically, it's not so cut and dried. Manning now self-identifies as Chelsea instead of Bradley.

So let's cut through all the bullshit and deal with the facts on which I believe all of us agree, or at least damn well better.

Pvt. Manning is a human being who, despite being convicted in a military court, is still deserving of a few basic human rights, one of which is access to decent medical care. In Manning's case, this may include injection with hormones such as estrogen. Gender reassignment surgery is unlikely considering the present situation, but it should not be ruled out simply because Manning is now serving 35 years in a military prison.

That wasn't so hard, was it?

There is a trans woman who lives in my neighborhood. If I ever step down as precinct chair, Pamela would be my first choice as my replacement. She's passionate about Democratic issues and an active participant in all things related to women's rights as well as the GLBT community. I don't know her complete life story, and I haven't inquired - I'll let Pamela share it in her own good time. But what she has shared with me is a story of isolation from family, hardship in coming to terms with her own identity, and the joy of being able to express her true self at last.

I cannot know what it is like to be trans, but I can at least appreciate Pamela's personal struggle with going through much of her life knowing deep down inside herself that she was a woman trapped inside a man's body. As I touched on earlier, this is biochemistry we're talking about, here. And as a straight male who just happens to have more estrogen than the average guy - and the gynecomastia to prove it - I fully understand that practically every human being on this planet falls somewhere in between the absolutes of "100% Male" and "100% Female," whatever those criteria might be.

So if you're busy making jokes about Bradley becoming Chelsea, please do yourself a favor and chill. And for those of you trying to enforce socio-cultural purity on trans issues, prepare yourself for disappointment. Both transphobia and rigid dogmatism are not welcome at the House of Derby.

But Pamela is.

Is Pvt. Manning a human being or not? Focus, people.