We urge you tore-instate Bradley Manning as Grand Marshall for this year’s Pride march. As anetwork of Jewish people committed to the end of all occupations and war and tohuman emancipation for all people – particularly those most impacted byoppression and repression – we commend Manning’s actions.
As a network committedto the historic struggles of queer and transgender people, we also askthe Board to remember the lives and courage of the fierce transgender men andwomen, the queens and dykes, many of whom were also people of color, who hadthe courage to stand up against the repression and violence against their communitiesby the police. This led up to theStonewall uprisings in 1969, a significant foundation for the LGBTTQ movementand what Pride itself is built on.
We reject theunfounded claim that Manning’s actions endangered soldiers’ lives. We remindthe Board that from 2003 to 2012, an estimated 180,000 Iraqis died as a resultof combat and an estimated 650,000 Iraqis died of war- and sanction-relatedcauses. More than 4,800 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since 2003. Certainlyamongst all of those killed in Iraq as a result of the aggression of the U.S.and its allies, many were queer.
