Transfreedom - coming 17/5/17

The White House just announced that the bulk of imprisoned whistleblower Bradley Manning’s (who will be referred to as her current name Chelsea from hereon in) sentence will be commuted, and she will be free on May 17th. We literally saved her life. But how did "we" do it? Well for starters the announcement comes after years of sustained activism on Chelsea’s behalf, and it marks a massive victory for free speech, human rights, and democracy. A year ago, heck even two weeks ago, any DC insider would have told you that getting Chelsea released was impossible - that it would never happen. But time and time again we are proving that when huge numbers of people come together and use the Internet to fight for what we believe in, we can change the rules for what is and isn’t possible in Washington, DC and beyond. Chelsea’s release sends a message to governments around the world that they cannot act with impunity. It sets a precedent that will benefit so many people. Not just future whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing but all those who suffer when governments are allowed to act without transparency. But today, I’m overjoyed to know that soon she’ll be able to share her beautiful self with the world, and continue on with the rest of her life. But we need everyone to remember that when those in power tell you that something is impossible, it just means you need to fight harder. Also, we need to remain vigilant. Because the battle for the future of free speech and our basic rights doesn’t end today. Or tomorrow. Or in four years. It rages on. And we'll need to fight said battle even harder when Trump takes office, because he will be president by May 17th and he could always reverse all the commutations Obama dished out today. But I'm sure he'll be too busy making America great again to even care.