Josh Gorand

Something I'm immensely proud of is my work to get the article on [[Chelsea Manning]] moved to Chelsea Manning following her request that she be referred to as such. I'm rather familiar with transgender issues, but had never previously edited in that topic area here until weighing in in the first move discussion, pointing out extremely discriminatory commentary that the discussion was rife with—including editors comparing transgendered people to people claiming to be various animals—and [http://www.dailydot.com/news/wikipedia-chelsea-bradley-manning-transgender-debate/ criticizing the fact that Wikipedia held a vote on whether to recognise someone's gender identity]. Disturbingly, the editors arguing in favour of respecting Manning's gender identity lost that vote, and the article was moved back to "Bradley Manning," a decision [http://www.webcitation.org/6KFWHy8BE criticised] even by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]]'s executive director. On 30 September 2013, I initiated the second and successful [[Talk:Bradley Manning/October 2013 move request|proposal to move the article to Chelsea Manning]] (after a month of evidence collection by myself and other editors). For my efforts to move the article, I have endured rather aggressive abuse both here on Wikipedia and outside of Wikipedia by individuals who insist Manning should be referred to as "he" and "Bradley" or that she can be compared to someone claiming to be a pig, with streams of insults and hate mail over a period spanning August, September and October 2013.