Private Bradley Manning has unveiled his last secret, but unlike the other 700,000, this one won't land him in jail. Being a transsexual, or even dressing as a woman in public, would indeed have gotten him arrested 60 years ago, but Chelsea Manning is luckier.

Even eight years ago, when my brother stunned me with the news that he had "gender dysphoria" and would transition into a woman, the world was a different place. People averted their eyes, gagged, made jokes about fright wigs, Dame Edna. Who wanted to think...