Judge decides whether WikiLeaks leaker can be called Chelsea

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- A Kansas judge granted a request Wednesday to formally change the name of the soldier convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks from Bradley Edward Manning to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning.

The former intelligence analyst is serving a 35-year prison sentence for passing classified U.S. government information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Manning is serving the sentence at the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

During a hearing that lasted about a minute, Leavenworth County District Judge David King said he'd allow the name change.

The decision clears the way for official changes to Manning's military records, but it would not compel the military to treat Manning as a woman. That includes transferring Manning to a prison with a woman's unit.

"Likewise, the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks is a male-only facility and prisoners there are referred to by the title 'inmate,'" Wright said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Manning, who grew up in Oklahoma, filed the court petition as the first step toward getting her Army records changed.

Manning has been diagnosed by at least two Army behavioral health specialists with gender dysphoria, or gender identity disorder.

Manning was sentenced in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for leaking more than 700,000 secret military and U.S. State Department documents, along with battlefield video, while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009 and 2010. An Army general upheld the convictions last week, clearing the way for appeals with the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

Manning didn't attend the Wednesday hearing, but she indicated in the petition that she could be available by telephone if requested. There was no opposition filed to the petition, though Manning included several newspaper reports indicating the desire to live publicly as a woman last August, as well as copy of an Oklahoma birth certificate.

She has filed a grievance with the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks commander at Fort Leavenworth over the lack of a response to her request for comprehensive treatment for her gender identity disorder, including specialized gender counseling and hormone replacement therapy.

The military has said it doesn't provide hormone replacement therapy. Gender dysphoria generally disqualifies one for military service, but Manning can't be discharged while serving the prison sentence.