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Knights Out is an organization of
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
alumni, staff and faculty who support the rights of
lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
,
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
,
bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
, and
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
(
LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
) people to serve openly in the U.S. military and who wish to educate young officers about the issues and contributions of LGBT troops. The group's name is in reference to the
Army Black Knights The Army Black Knights are the athletic teams that represent the United States Military Academy, located in West Point, New York. The Black Knights compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a non-footb ...
, West Point's athletic mascot.


History

In January 2009, two
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
alumni, L Paul Morris '80, and Dan Manning '04, along with
Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
graduate
Steve Clark Hall Steve Clark Hall (born November 9, 1953) is a retired United States Navy submarine officer and documentary film maker. He is the first openly gay senior U.S. Navy officer who is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Early life and education Stev ...
,
USNA The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...
'75, started work to establish a West Point organization parallel to USNA Out, the LGBT alumni association of the
United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...
. At the time, L. Paul Morris was serving as the chair of SAGALA, the joint service academy gay and lesbian alumni network, while Dan Manning was the USMA board representative. This led to the founding of Knights Out in March 2009. Becky Kanis, USMA '91, agreed to chair the Knights Out Board and was joined on the Board by L. Paul Morris '80, Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton '80, Margaret Wilson '89, Scott Melendez ex-92, Sarah Haag '03, Dan Manning '04, and New York National Guard First Lieutenant Daniel Choi, '03. As spokesperson for the organization in 2009, Daniel Choi gained national attention for challenging the
U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...
's "
don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on Sexual orientation in the United States military, military service of homosexual people. Instituted during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, Clinton administration, the pol ...
" (DADT) policy when he
came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
on the ''
Rachel Maddow Show ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American news television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET time slot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public profile via her frequ ...
''. The core of the membership is represented by the "Out Knights," graduates and former cadets who are publicly identified on the website as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. USMA graduates and current and former Staff and Faculty who are straight or do not wish to be identified as LGBT can join as Graduate Supporters. All others are encouraged to join as Allies. The membership has grown from 38 members to more than 400 members and allies, including over 75 Out Knights.


Actions

Since its founding, members of Knights Out have spoken out in support of repealing the
Don't Ask, Don't Tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on Sexual orientation in the United States military, military service of homosexual people. Instituted during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, Clinton administration, the pol ...
policy and to educate their fellow Soldiers and citizens. Knights Out has also worked closely with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and other organizations committed to repeal. Finally, Knights Out members support West Point and the Army by speaking with Academy groups to educate and train leaders in preparation for leading a post-DADT Army. Because the DADT repeal has been Knights Out's main project, the repeal is likely to alter the group's target. Fulton said that they will work with West Point to dispel stereotypes about LGBT soldiers.


See also

*
U.S. Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as commissioned officers in the United States Army. The academy was founded ...
* USNA Out * Blue Alliance *
OutServe OutServe-SLDN was a network of LGBTQ military personnel, formed as a result of the merger between OutServe and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. OutServe-SLDN was one of the largest LGBT employee resource groups in the world. OutServe was ...


References


External links


Official websiteKnights Out on Facebook
{{LGBT military-related groups LGBTQ political advocacy groups in the United States Sexual orientation and the United States military LGBTQ military-related organizations