Outsourced Exclusion: The Reproduction of Gender and Sexual Inequality in the Contemporary US Military

This dissertation examines how LGBTQ military members and veterans understand their experiences in the increasingly inclusionary military. Drawing on 50 semi-structured and in-depth interviews with LGBTQ military members and recently discharged veterans of the US military, I present three empirical cases in support of my concept of outsourced exclusion. While the US military is increasingly inclusionary, gender and sexual exclusion still persist, albeit in revised ways. I argue exclusion is implicitly outsourced to LGBTQ military members themselves who are the ideal neoliberal subjects. They inadvertently perform gender labor, and rely on narratives of resilience, professionalism, and patriotism, which help bolster access to organizational status and resources for some types of subjects at the expense of excluding others. In the military, hegemonic, neoliberal narratives of resilience, professionalism, and patriotism help ensure organizational control is maintained. This happens through the production of queer value by LGBTQ military members. This dissertation contributes to understandings of “LGBTQ-friendly organizations,” diversity and inclusion, and intersections of neoliberalism, gender, and sexual exclusion