In its reporting on the U.S. Army’s announcement that it will provide Chelsea Manning with medically necessary care to end her gender dysphoria, Fox News continued its third straight year of misgendering and mocking the imprisoned soldier.

BuzzFeed News reported September 13 that U.S. Army officials have told Chelsea Manning -- the soldier and transgender woman imprisoned for sending classified information to WikiLeaks -- that they will provide her with gender transition surgery to treat her gender dysphoria. Manning began a hunger strike on September 9 to protest the lack of medical care she was receiving. The Army’s decision to provide her with medically necessary transition-related care will bring an end to the hunger strike. 

While reporting the Army’s decision, Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt repeatedly misgendered Manning, calling her “he” and saying that Manning “refers to himself as Chelsea.” The on-screen text for the segment also put scare quotes around her first name. Fox News, particularly Fox & Friends, has been misgendering Manning for over three years now. Beginning in 2013, the cast of Fox & Friends attacked other news outlets, including The New York Times, for heeding Manning’s explicit request to be identified as a woman. Since then, Fox personalities have referred to Manning as “Bradleen,” mocked her by playing Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” during news segments, and called her a “gender bender.” 

From the September 14 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

AINSLEY EARHARDT (HOST): The United States Military just caved, agreeing to grant the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning a taxpayer-funded sex change. Manning, who now refers to himself as Chelsea, started a hunger strike on Friday, claiming that he was being bullied by the U.S. government and wanted surgery free. Manning is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence for releasing 750,000 pages of sensitive government documents to the website Wikileaks.