Daniel Ellsberg to Speak at SF Pride Board Meeting to Address Allegation's Against Bradley Manning

WHAT: San Francisco Pride Board of Directors Monthly Meeting: Public Comment

WHERE: San Francisco Pride Office
30 Pearl Street, 4th Floor (off Market, btwn Octavia & Guerrero)
San Francisco

WHEN: Tuesday, May 7, 2013 @ 7pm * Rally to gather at 6:30pm.

The San Francisco Pride Committee's action to recently rescind naming Bradley Manning as a Grand Marshal of this year's parade has been met with protest by local activists and gay veterans. Manning is the US Army soldier who was arrested in 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of having passed classified material to the website Wikileaks.

The San Francisco Pride Board of Directors' monthly meeting will take place this Tuesday, May 7th at 7pm at their office off upper Market Street. The meeting is open to the public. It is not known if they will bring up and vote on the issue of whether or not to reinstate openly gay whistleblower, Manning, as a Grand Marshal, but supporters of Manning are being encouraged to show up and make a public comment. Those interested should arrive early. The Board has the power to reverse the decision to rescind Manning as a Grand Marshal.

In an April 26th statement, Pride Board President, Lisa Williams said, "Even the hint of support for actions which placed in harm's way the lives of our men and women in uniform -- and countless others, military and civilian alike -- will not be tolerated by the leadership of San Francisco Pride." Williams' entire statement: www.tinyurl.com/PrideBdManning

Williams has not made any public comment since the nomination was rescinded. She met briefly with some veterans last Friday but would neither confirm nor deny to them that the Pride Board would vote on the Manning issue this Tuesday; she did, however, allude to the fact that she would share with the Board the next time they met, the group's concerns.

Manning, who remains in prison, would not be able to actually attend the parade, but former military strategist, Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked secret documents known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, planned on going in his place.

Last Monday, 200 activists peacefully protested against this decision outside Pride's office; speakers included Ellsberg; gay veteran, John Caldera, who as Commander of the Bob Basker Post 315 of the American Legion (the only post within the American Legion named after an openly gay WWII Combat Veteran) has called for Williams to resign; and past Board President, Joey Cain, who nominated Manning.

Ellsberg plans to speak at the meeting and address the allegation that Manning's actions put military servicepeople in harm's way.

Update:

Rally to gather at 6:30pm.

Former military strategist, Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked secret documents known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, plans to speak at the SF Pride Board meeting this evening at 7pm and address the allegation that Manning's actions put military servicepeople in harm's way.

CONTACT:

• Lisa Geduldig: (415) 205-6515, lisag@igc.org
• Joey Cain: past Board President; nominated Manning. (716) 936-6235
• John Caldera: Bob Basker Post 315 of the American Legion. (415) 474-4724, SFcommishcaldera@aol.com
• Michael Thurman: Bradley Manning Support Network. (916) 202-6060, michael@couragetoresist.org