Reacting to a wave of criticism, the president of San Francisco’s annual gay pride celebration said that Bradley Manning—the U.S. Army private charged in a massive leak of U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website—will not be an honorary grand marshal after all, according to an Associated Press item.
SF Pride Board President Lisa Williams said in a statement that an employee of the organization had prematurely notified Manning that he had been selected for the distinction. Some gay-rights activists, especially those with military connections, were against celebrating Manning, who is in custody at a military prison in Kansas while he awaits court-martial and would have been unable to attend the June 30 parade.
The Advocate reports that several LGBT activists are calling for a protest against the reversal. Michael Petrelis, Tommi Avicolli Mecca and Lisa Geduldig said that SF Pride is wrong, with Petrelis telling The Advocate: “Our message to SF Pride is that they should make Manning a grand marshal of this year’s Pride march and celebration because of his brave act of whistleblowing against the military industrial complex. We are fed up with marriage and military concerns sucking the oxygen out of what used to be a queer movement and Pride march and celebration about social justice for queers.”
Indybay.org has reported that some believe that Manning is transgender. The site added that “what is more disconcerting is that the San Francisco Pride Committee does not appear to have any transgender people on their staff nor Board of Directors.”