Knights of the Clock

The Cloistered Order of Conclaved Knights of Sophisticracy,^[1] more commonly known as the Knights of the Clock, was an interracial homophile social club based in Los Angeles, California. 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,^[2] 1950,^[3] and 1951.^[4] 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 (established 1924),^[5] the Veterans Benevolent Association (established 1945)^[6] and possibly the Mattachine Society (established 1950)^[7] pre-dating it.

The Knights were primarily a social club, including people of both sexes and family members of couples.^[2] They also tried to address social problems that affected interracial couples, including employment counseling^[8] and locating integrated housing for same-sex couples.^[1] To that end, the Knights discussed the possibility of establishing communes throughout its existence, although no such communes were ever established.^[2]

Although social functions routinely attracted as many as 200 participants,^[2] 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., another early homophile organization.^[9] 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.^[10]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Faderman and Timmons, p. 112
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Humphreys, p. 51
3. ^ Sagarin, p. 77
4. ^ Sears, p. 119
5. ^ Hogan and Hudson, p. 244
6. ^ Archer, p. 110
7. ^ Hogan and Hudson, pp. 382–3
8. ^ White, p. 30
9. ^ Faderman and Timmons, p. 116
10. ^ Humphreys, p. 85

References

• Archer, Bert (2004). The End of Gay: And the Death of Heterosexuality. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560256117.
• Faderman, Lillian and Stuart Timmons (2006). Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians. Basic Books. ISBN 046502288X.
• Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson (1998). Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia. New York, Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805036296.
• Humphreys, Laud (1972). Out of the Closets; The Sociology of Homosexual Liberation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice-Hall, ISBN 9780136453178.
• Sagarin, Edward (1975). Structure and Ideology in an Association of Deviants. Ayer Publishing. ISBN 0405074026.
• Sears, James Thomas (2006). Behind the Mask of the Mattachine: The Hal Call Chronicles and the Early Movement for Homosexual Emancipation. Psychology Press. ISBN 1560231874.
• White, C. Todd (2009). Pre-Gay L.A.: A Social History of the Movement for Homosexual Rights. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252076419.