Description
Book SynopsisThe US military has done an about-face on gender and sexuality policy over the last decade, ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell, restrictions on women in combat, and transgender exclusion. Contrary to expectations, servicemembers have largely welcomed cisgender LGB individualsyet they continue to vociferously resist trans inclusion and the presence of women on the front lines. In the minds of many, the embodied deficiencies of cisgender women and trans people of all genders puts othersand indeed, the nationat risk. In this book, Cati Connell identifies the homonormative bargain that underwrites these uneven patterns of receptiona bargain that comes with significant concessions, upholding and even exacerbating race, class, and gender inequality in the pursuit of sexual equality. In this handshake deal, even the widespread support for open LGB service is highly conditional, revocable upon violation of the bargain. Despite the promise of inclusivity, in practice, the military has made room only
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Dawning of a Kinder, Gentler US Military
Part 1 Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
1. “The Hard Work to Get Me in the Door”: A History of the Gay Ban
2. “What They Do in Their Private Life, I Couldn’t Care Less”: Striking the
Homonormative Bargain
3. “He Acts Straight but He Has This One Thing . . .”: Open LGB Service and
Queer Social Control
Part 2 Ending Combat Exclusion
4. “When You Want to Create a Group of Male Killers, You Kill the Woman in Them”:
Feminine Abjection and the Impossibility of Women Warriors
5. “My Problem’s Not That I’m Gay; My Problem Is That I’m a Woman”: The Patriotic
Paternalism of Combat Exclusion
Part 3 Removing Medical Restrictions on Transgender Service
6. “Once He Saw Them as Soldiers, I Knew We Had It”: The Trans Ban Tug of War
7. “You Can’t Have Three Bathrooms at a Forward Operating Position”: Gender Panic in the
Transgendering Organization
Part 4 Conclusion
8 . We Will Be Greeted as Gay Liberators?
Methodological Appendix A
Methodological Appendix B
Methodological Appendix C
Notes
References
Index
