UPDATE: The San Francisco Pride committee has backtracked, removing Bradley Manning as the Grand Marshal in light of the controversy.

Bradley Manning, the 25-year-old United States Army hero arrested in 2010 on suspicion of handing over classified material to WikiLeaks, will be honored this year in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade as a Grand Marshal.

Obviously, he will not be able to make it on the route up Market Street, nor get buzzed off of vodka-based cocktails at Civic Center during the post-parade party, since he remains in custody at the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility in Kansas City. Alas.

The Bay Area Reporter has more:

Pride's electoral college, which is made up of former grand marshals, has selected Army Private First Class Bradley Manning as its choice for grand marshal. Manning has admitted to leaking 700,000 classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks and is facing court-martial. He is currently in custody and will not be attending the parade, although he will have supporters appearing on his behalf.

Other Grand Marshals for the 2013 parade are as follows: Mario Benton (community leader), Chili D (noted DJ), Bevan Dufty (former supe./current SF Homeless Czar), Veronika Fimbres (former affairs commissioner for several years/worked at San Quentin State Prison), Kamala Harris ("best-looking Attorney General"), Perry Lang (Executive Director of the Black Coalition on AIDS), Betty Sullivan (San Francisco Bay Times), Kenneth Monteiro (Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University/Lang's hot piece), and Marlena (of the now-defunct Marlena's).