[Pn. 3] Monster, Fag…Patriot?: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Construction of Queer Citizen in the 21st Century

Attempting to articulate between and across Feminist Theories, especially Postcolonial critiques of militarism and citizenship, Queer/ LGBTQ Studies, and Sociological Theories of identity, this paper examines how popular and academic arguments around the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) re/construct Queer bodies into what I identify as an archetypal neoliberal subject, The Queer Patriot. Further, this paper seeks to connect conceptions of homonormativity and homonationalism to how they become actually-embodied. Using current work in the field (Puar and Rai 2001, Puar 2007, Duggan 2003) as a starting point, I locate the repeal of DADT, the construction of the Queer Patriot, and 21st Century articulation of ‘civil rights’ for LGBT individuals within a Post-9/11 neoliberal framework which attempts to re-construct contemporary meanings of post-racial, post-sexual citizenship. For its methodology, this paper employs textual and media analysis of mainstream and Gay and Lesbian popular press, discourses within the political arena, and media representations of key figures within the repeal of DADT.