In brief, Manning appears to be a gay man who was repeatedly abused and disrespected for simply being who he was. According to extensive reporting by Denver Nicks, Manning was a precocious, sensitive kid who suffered all sorts of grief from the typical idiots at school, took his parents' divorce very hard, was kicked him out of the house by his domineering father, forced to deny his true identity in the military, etc., etc.
Whether you're the President, a Nobel laureate or merely a loner, the qualities for which you're ridiculed may prove your greatest asset.
As we all know, many young people respond to this constant hounding by taking their own lives, but Manning decided (apparently) to retaliate against the government he'd felt had betrayed him over and over. (Manning's personal emails show him to have been surprised and dejected over the electoral failures of gay marriage amendments and repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.)
According to Nicks, Manning's Facebook profile still reads, "Take me for who I am, or suffer the consequences!" As a nation, we refused to take him for what he was, a very smart, earnest young guy who loved his country and happened to be gay. When will American society finally graduate from high school?
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Christopher Ryan, Ph.D., is co-author of Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality (HarperCollins 2010).
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