NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — Chelsea Manning has told a Massachusetts crowd watching her speak at a conference aimed at “creative thinkers” that she’s not a traitor as her critics have claimed.
Manning addressed the annual conference for The Nantucket Project in Nantucket on Sunday. It was one of Manning’s first public appearances since being released from a military prison in May.
The 29-year-old Manning is a transgender woman who was known as Bradley Manning when she was convicted in 2013 of leaking a trove of classified documents. She was released from a military prison in May after serving seven years.
Manning told the crowd Sunday she took a risk to contribute to political and public discourse and “change the tone of the conversation,” but if anything, “things have gotten worse.”