Military Monday

New West Point alumni group pushes for gay rights in military

Knights Out - a group of about 50 West Point graduates - created a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender alumni organization on the military academy's Founders Day.

The advocacy group's goal is to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" and work with the academy to train cadets in diversity issues.

The group includes gay West Point graduates who served in the Vietnam War and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dan Choi, a 2003 West Point alumnus from Orange County, Calif., who helped create Knights Out, said the academy's values on doing the right thing, not lying and fighting injustice were why he wanted to create the group.

"The West Point honor code is not just for straight cadets," said Choi. "It's a conflict at the very core of what the honor code really stands for."

Choi, an Arab linguist and veteran of the Iraq war, said he left the Army in 2008 with an honorable discharge after he fell in love and wanted to stop hiding his sexual preference.

"That's the reason why a lot of us left," he said.