UCLA

Using auto-ethnographic methods coupled with social media analysis of a secret Facebook group that contains personal accounts of active military junior officers, this work brings in conversation this data with theory that currently comprises the framework of queer migration. Much has been written on the movement to strike down the DADT policy; not much thought has been given to the aftermath post its abolishment. Although the repeal of DADT was a relief for many queer servicemembers, several still live as if DADT was law, due in large part to the management of their career of coming out as a result of where they may or may not be spatially located physically and within the ranks. This work examines how queer U.S. servicemembers’ lives are impacted by mobility coupled with lack of choice.