The Cloistered Order of Conclaved Knights of Sophisticracy,Faderman and Timmons, p. 112 more commonly known as the Knights of the Clock, was an interracial

homophile Terms used to describe homosexuality have gone through many changes since the emergence of the first terms in the mid-19th century. In English, some terms in widespread use have been sodomite, Achillean, Sapphic, Uranian, homophile, lesbian, g ...

social club based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The Knights were founded by Merton Bird, an African-American man, and W. Dorr Legg, his white lover. Sources differ as to the founding date of the organization, variously citing it as 1949,Humphreys, p. 51 1950, and 1951. Regardless of the exact date, the Knights was one of the earliest gay organizations in the United States, with only the

Society for Human Rights The Society for Human Rights was an American LGBT rights organization established in Chicago in 1924. Society founder Henry Gerber was inspired to create it by the work of German doctor Magnus Hirschfeld and the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee ...

(established 1924), the

Veterans Benevolent Association The Veterans Benevolent Association (VBA) was an organization for LGBT veterans of the United States armed forces. The VBA was founded in New York City in 1945 by four honorably discharged gay veterans. History Although serving primarily as a socia ...

(established 1945) and possibly the Mattachine Society (established 1950) pre-dating it. The Knights were primarily a social club, including people of both sexes and family members of couples. They also tried to address social problems that affected interracial couples, including employment counseling and locating integrated housing for same-sex couples. To that end, the Knights discussed the possibility of establishing communes throughout its existence, although no such communes were ever established. Although social functions routinely attracted as many as 200 participants, at its core the Knights always remained a numerically small group and eventually disbanded in the mid-1950s. Several Knights, including Bird and Legg, went on to join

ONE, Inc. One, Inc., or One Incorporated, was one of the first gay rights organizations in the United States, founded in 1952. Organization The idea for an organization dedicated to homosexuals emerged from a Mattachine Society discussion meeting held on O ...

, another early homophile organization. Sociologist Laud Humphreys cited the Knights as an example of the ability of people of different races to cross racial barriers through commonality of sexual identification.Humphreys, p. 85

Notes

References

* Archer, Bert (2004). ''The End of Gay: And the Death of Heterosexuality''. Thunder's Mouth Press. . * Faderman, Lillian and

Stuart Timmons Stuart Timmons (January 14, 1957 – January 28, 2017) was an American journalist, activist, historian, and award-winning author specializing in LGBT history based in Los Angeles, California. He was the author of ''The Trouble With Harry Hay: F ...

(2006). ''Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians''. Basic Books. . * Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson (1998). ''Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia''. New York, Henry Holt and Company. . * Humphreys, Laud (1972). ''Out of the Closets; The Sociology of Homosexual Liberation''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice-Hall, . * Sagarin, Edward (1975). ''Structure and Ideology in an Association of Deviants''. Ayer Publishing. . * Sears, James Thomas (2006). ''Behind the Mask of the Mattachine: The Hal Call Chronicles and the Early Movement for Homosexual Emancipation''. Psychology Press. . * White, C. Todd (2009). ''Pre-Gay L.A.: A Social History of the Movement for Homosexual Rights''. University of Illinois Press. . {{Early U.S. gay rights movement 1949 establishments in California 1950s in LGBT history African-American history in Los Angeles Defunct LGBT organizations in the United States LGBT African-American culture LGBT culture in Los Angeles Organizations based in Los Angeles History of gay men in the United States