In San Francisco, New York and Chicago, support contingents for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks whistleblower, participated in Sunday’s gay pride parades. Those who marched in contingents aimed to make the LGBT community more aware of Bradley Manning.

Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network and Bradley Manning Support Network Advisory Board member, says he and others in the LGBT community organized a contingent because Manning is a gay man and “we think it is important to stand up for those in our own community who are being victimized.”

The Manning Support Network’s focus will now be on ensuring his trial is not secret. They believe the public has a right to decide for themselves based on evidence presented whether he is guilty or not, as the trial unfolds.

According to Bradley Manning’s attorney David Coombs, Manning’s confinement conditions have improved dramatically. veryone who said that Manning was being stripped naked, held in solitary confinement and shackled in chains “for his own good” was evidently lying. It should be obvious to everyone now that Manning’s mental health status was being mis-classified as a way to abuse and punish him, in complete violation of both the Constitution and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The ease with which the Army decided to put Manning in medium security, and out of almost a year of solitary confinement, makes the unending excuses out of the Pentagon pathetic.

Yesterday the Pentagon surprised everybody – including Bradley Manning’s lawyer – with news that the accused Wikileaks whistleblower will be moved from the Quantico brig in Virginia to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Pentagon’s lawyer, Jeh Johnson, announced Manning’s transfer in a snap press conference (video embedded) that revealed the government’s strategy: take Manning to a place “not in the Washington[, DC] area” where he will “likely be in pre-trial confinement for a while.”

Snap presser called on pentagonchannel.mil. Joining this in progress. . . .

DoD General Counsel Jeh Johnson, LTC Dawn Hilton, and Dr. Joseph Westphal, US Under Secretary of the Army, adress the press.

As we reported, Pfc. Manning will be transferred from the brig at Quantico to a pretrial confinement facility at Levenworth.

Bradley Manning is set to be moved to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the only maximum security prison for members of the military, and the home to the military’s Death Row. The Pentagon is expected to announce the move tomorrow.