Chelsea Manning, an American soldier who was jailed for leaking a large number of secret U.S. government documents to the WikiLeaks website, recently said that the U.S. military has agreed to her having sex reassignment surgery, so she decided to stop her hunger strike that started last Friday.

Manning's original name was Bradley Manning. He was originally a male and was a private in the U.S. Army. In 2010, he was arrested on suspicion of leaking nearly 700,000 classified U.S. government documents to the WikiLeaks website. At the time, the case was called the largest leak in U.S. history.

In July 2013, a U.S. military court sentenced Manning to 35 years in prison. Afterwards, he issued a statement announcing that he would change his name to Chelsea Manning and begin injecting hormones to become a woman. Manning, who said she has always felt female since she was a child, has been receiving hormone therapy and voice therapy while in prison. However, she complained that the military still required her to shave her head according to military male standards, which made her feel "like a monster."

Manning, 28, announced the start of a hunger strike last Friday, saying she had been intimidated by the government and refused to allow her to receive treatment for gender dysphoria. She remains incarcerated in an all-male military prison in Kansas.

Manning also attempted suicide in July, her lawyer said, because the government failed to provide appropriate treatment for her gender dysphoria. People with gender dysphoria have opposite perceptions of their own gender than their actual biological sex. Although Manning is biologically male, her perception of her gender is female.

In April this year, a psychiatrist recommended that Manning should undergo treatment, which is the so-called gender reassignment surgery.

Manning expressed satisfaction with the military's attitude in allowing her to undergo gender reassignment surgery. "I am extremely relieved that the military has finally done the right thing," she said in a statement. Applaud their actions. That's all I want - for them to allow me to be myself.

The U.S. Army has not responded so far.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Manning, said that until now, no transgender person in prison in the United States had been allowed to undergo gender reassignment surgery. The organization sued the U.S. Department of Defense in 2014 for refusing to treat Manning's gender dysphoria.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio said that this is a landmark day for Chelsea Manning, who can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that she will receive the medical treatment she desperately needs. Strangio also said that the military required Manning to shave his hair short according to male standards before undergoing surgical sex reassignment surgery.

However, due to the suicide attempt, Manning may face being placed in solitary confinement.

The U.S. Pentagon announced on June 30 that it will allow transgender people to serve openly in the military. Starting from October 1, transgender people already serving in the military are expected to be allowed to receive any necessary medical services, including gender reassignment surgery, and can begin to formally modify their gender information in the Department of Defense personnel system.

A study commissioned by the military and conducted by the RAND Corporation showed that there are currently about 2,500 transgender people among the 1.3 million active duty military personnel in the United States; there are about 1,500 transgender people in the reserves. However, they estimate that the upper limit of the number of transgender people is 7,000 in the active military and 4,000 in the reserves.