Protesters Hit SF Pride Parade Over Bradley Manning Removal: VIDEO

Approximately 200 protesters demonstrated in front of SF Pride offices on Monday night to protest Bradley Manning's removal as grand marshal of the Pride parade, the HuffPost reports:

Angered by the decision, protesters demanded parade organizers reinstate Manning with the honor. "We're here today because a big mistake was made by the Board of Directors of Gay Pride," Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, who would have marched in the parade on Manning's behalf, told the assembled crowd Monday. "They were talking about a mistake that was one of the most honorable things the Gay Pride people have probably done for a long time."

Williams pointed to the danger Manning placed fellow members of the military in as justification for her decision. "Even the hint of support for actions which placed in harms 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," she said.

Manning is currently in custody awaiting the outcome of his pending court martial.

Ellsberg plans on marching in this year's parade with a banner supporting Manning. "If that will not be tolerated by the leadership, I guess I'm in for a little intolerance," he said.

Watch Ellsberg speak, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Netflix, Bradley Manning, Vietnam, Sarah Palin

Netflix's increasingly valuable stock has made the company's CEO, Reed Hastings, a very, very rich man.

LGBT activist Michael Petrelis is one of those who is calling for a protest in San Francisco tomorrow over the SF Pride/Bradley Manning controversy: "'Our message to SF Pride is that they should make Manning a grand marshal of this year's Pride march and celebration because of his brave act of whistleblowing against the military industrial complex,' said Petrelis. 'We are fed up with marriage and military concerns sucking the oxygen out of what used to be a queer movement and Pride march and celebration about social justice for queers.'"

Kickstarter pays off for Zack Braff.

Mark Wahlberg's Pain & Gain muscles a box office win.

First gay wedding fair held in France.

Compelling story about a popular gay ex-mayor of a small Texas town who gave up his rising career for love: "He followed a path blazed by hundreds of gay Americans each year, who have found that U.S. immigration law offers no easy way for them to live legally with foreign-born partners."

Vietnamese series My Best Gay Friends is a big hit. Says creator: "I thought it would only interest Vietnam's gay community -- but we're hearing that parents, grandparents, whole families watch and love the shows and long for new episodes."

The Associated Press asks if lesbians are more accepted than gay men.

Unsurprisngly, Sarah Palin finds the time to complain about last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Ashton Kutcher involved in altercation at the Stagecoach music festival.

RIP: Alan Wood, the man who owned the U.S. flag in Joe Rosenthal's photo of the famous flag-rising over Iwo Jima.

  Jake Gyllenhaal and Jude Law hang out together in the East Village.

Bradley Manning Won't Be SF Pride Grand Marshal

Yesterday, Andy reported that Wikileaks soldier Bradley Manning had been appointed Grand Marshal of this year's San Francisco Pride. That's now changed. Late last night, SF Pride Board President Lisa Williams issued a statement claiming that Manning's confirmation for the honor was never supposed to happen in the first place and occurred due to a mistake by an internal staffer. That person has reportedly been disciplined.

Her statement went even further, explaining why the group will not include Manning in this year's event:

Bradley Manning is facing the military justice system of this country. We all await the decision of that system. However, until that time, even the hint of support for actions which placed in harms 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. It is, and would be, an insult to every one, gay and straight, who has ever served in the military of this country. There are many, gay and straight, military and non-military, who believe Bradley Manning to be innocent. There are many who feel differently. Under the US Constitution, they have a first amendment right to show up, participate and voice their opinions at Pride this year.

Before SF Pride released their statement last night, The American Military Partner Association had issued a strongly-worded response in which they said they were "outraged" and asked the group to reconsider Manning's appointment. Williams' announcement followed soon after.

The comments section of the SF Pride's Facebook page has exploded with criticism of the organization. Some are calling the leaders of the group "cowards" and their statement "wrong."

Read SF Pride's full statement, AFTER THE JUMP.

Bradley Manning's Full Court Statement Released: AUDIO

Wikileaks soldier Bradley Manning's 1 hr and 7 minute speech to a military court was leaked by the Freedom of the Press Foundation today and posted as a Soundcloud file by Buzzfeed, along with an edited clip of Manning describing a 2007 video he gave to Wikileaks and the reasons he did so.

Says Manning in the latter clip:

"At first I did not consider the video very special, as I have viewed countless other war porn type videos depicting combat. However, the recording of audio comments by the aerial weapons team crew and the second engagement in the video of an unarmed bongo truck troubled me ...

It was clear to me that the event happened because the aerial weapons team mistakenly identified Reuters employees as a potential threat and that the people in the bongo truck were merely attempting to assist the wounded. The people in the van were not a threat but merely "good samaritans." The most alarming aspect of the video to me, however, was the seemly delightful bloodlust they appeared to have."

Watch and listen to the above-referenced clips, AFTER THE JUMP...

Writes Glenn Greenwald:

The Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), the group I recently helped found and on whose board I sit, has received a full, unedited audio recording of the one-hour statement Manning made in court two weeks ago, and this morning has published that recording in full. In that statement, Manning details at length what he did and, more important, the reasons he chose to do it. I'm personally unaware of who made the recording and am not aware of how it was made, but its authenticity has been verified. Last week, the superb independent journalist Alexa O'Brien, who has covered the proceedings from start to finish, created the best transcript she could of Manning's statement, which was published, among other places, in the Guardian. But this audio recording provides the first opportunity to hear Manning, in his own voice, explain his actions; that, presumably, is why whoever recorded Manning's statement risked violating the court-martial rules to do so.

The unofficial transcript is also posted here.

Judge Awards Wikileaks Soldier Bradley Manning Sentencing Credit, Deems Pretrial Conditions 'Excessive'

The judge in the trial of Wikileaks soldier Bradley Manning, who faces 22 counts including aiding the enemy for his role in the release of classified information, awarded him nearly four months of credit off any sentence he might receive because of the way he has been treated in confinement, the AP reports:

Col. Denise Lind made the ruling during a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade for Pfc. Bradley Manning. Lind found that Manning suffered illegal pretrial punishment during nine months in a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. She awarded a total of 112 days off any prison sentence Manning gets if he is convicted.

Manning was confined to a windowless cell 23 hours a day, sometimes with no clothing. Brig officials say it was to keep him from hurting himself or others.

The judge said that Manning's confinement was "more rigorous than necessary." She added that the conditions "became excessive in relation to legitimate government interests."

Manning's trial begins on March 6.

150 Game Changing Wins that Made 2012 the Gayest Year Ever

A remarkably short four decades ago, the Stonewall Revolt of 1969 opened the flood gates for LGBT rights. The closet, so sturdy for so long, started being swept away in a rush of pride. Still, LGBT Americans lived in a culture of "tolerance," a popular euphemism for enduring.

There have been momentous years since then — both Barney Frank's 1987 coming out and the 2003 Supreme Court ruling overturning anti-sodomy laws come to mind — but when we look back in twenty years time or ten or even five, 2012 will be remembered as quantum leap for LGBT rights in the United States of America. It's the year that equality went from being a far-off dream to becoming an inevitable, immutable and irreversible reality. Even Newt Gingrich agrees!

This was the year of equality, the year the American dream came into sharper focus and the nation crossed from begrudgingly tolerating gays, and sometimes even acknowledging their relationships, to demanding our inclusion in the greater American family. Coming out is for the large part no longer a big deal, which is a big deal in and of itself.

There have never been as many out and proud elected officials; never before has Wall Street embraced us with such force; never before have so many conservatives admitted they need to shift gears on marriage equality and embrace change. This was a year of "never before" and "never again."

AFTER THE JUMP, 150 reasons why 2012 was a year of permanence for LGBT Americans, a year that the next wave of rights began its swoop across the purple mountain majesty and above the fruited plain.

And for more of our 2012 Year in Review, be sure to read "I'm Gay: 50 Most Powerful Comings Outs of 2012" HERE.