Queer theory is very particular about the kinds of trouble with which it troubles itself. The problem of race in particular presents queer theory with dilemmas over which it actively untroubles itself. I speculate in this essay on the resistance within establishmentarian queer theory to thinking race critically, a resistance that habitually classifies almost any form of race studies as a retreat into identity politics. This defensive posture helps entrench institutionally the transparent white subject characteristic of so much queer theorizing. Queer theorists who can invoke that transparent subject, and choose to do so, reap the dividends of whiteness.1
