Chicago marks Manning milestone at Pritzker Park

A variety of events took place around the world Feb. 23 to mark out U.S. Army private Bradley Manning spending 1,000 days behind bars.

According to PolicyMic.com, Manning is accused of leaking state secrets to WikiLeaks in the largest intelligence leak in U.S. history. Originally charged in June 2010 with leaking classified information, 22 additional charges against Manning were announced in March 2011, including “aiding the enemy”; and multiple counts of theft of public records, transmitting defense information and computer fraud.

Gay Liberation Network (GLN) and Chicago World Can’t Wait co-sponsored the local event, which was held at Pritzker Park in the South Loop. At one point, Thayer said, among other things, that Manning’s leak showed the Obama Administration’s support of the 2009 military coup in Honduras that “left thousands of Hondurans dead.”

Thayer added, “The LGBT movement in our country does no service to its brothers and sisters abroad by not supporting Bradley Manning. … The response of the U.S. government has been to vilify Bradley Manning. President Obama said that Bradley Manning was guilty. [Obama] was a constitutional-law scholar at the University of Chicago; he should know better than anyone else that you do not prejudice a trial before it happens … by calling someone guilty before he’s had his day in court.”

Others spoke as well, including members of Chicago Can’t Wait and Brandon Pruitt, who identified himself as a “non-gay ally.” People passed out postcards (addressed to “Bradley Manning 89289, 830 Sabalu Road, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., 66027”) that expressed support for Manning. The event concluded with a march up State Street.