The San Francisco Pride Board has a new rationale for keeping former U.S. soldier and whistleblower Bradley Manning out of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade as a grand marshal: He's not local enough.
The position in Manning's case would be largely symbolic. He is currently incarcerated at a military prison in Kansas awaiting trial on a number of serious charges, including aiding the enemy, all related to his leaking of classified information to the website Wikileaks. He was arrested in 2010.
The board released a statement last night asserting that the original nomination of Manning violated its procedures because Manning isn't local enough. The exact definition of what constitutes local was not defined. The announcement drew the ire of protesters who had come to the board's public meeting to ask that Manning be reinstated as a grand marshal.
The Pride Board in San Francisco originally caused a stir by inviting Manning, who is gay, as a grand marshal in the yearly parade, which will take place on June 30. Late last month the board revoked the invitation after complaints from outside groups such as the Log Cabin Republicans. The decision to remove Manning as a grand marshal has attracted protesters, national media coverage, and now, in an odd twist for Pride, a discrimination complaint filed by David Wagner, a gay activist and attorney.
“They denounced him for what he stands for politically as a whistleblower,” Wagner said. "Well, that's illegal under San Francisco law. You can't get money from the city and then turn around and discriminate against people on the basis of their moral convictions.”