Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton
Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton (@suefulton) is a 1980 West Point graduate, part of the first class to admit women. She was commissioned in the Army, served as a platoon leader and company commander in Germany, and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain. In 2009, she co-founded Knights Out, the organization of LGBT West Point alumni and allies, and a year later became a founding board member of OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBT military members; in both roles she was an active advocate for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” As President of SPARTA, she played a leading role in lifting the military’s ban on transgender service in 2013.
In July 2011 she was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first openly gay member of the West Point Board of Visitors, and became the first female U.S. Military Academy graduate to chair the Board in 2015. In 2017, she was appointed to the Board of Visitors for the National Defense University in Washington, DC.
In December, 2012, after 17 years together, Fulton and her partner Penny Gnesin became the first same-sex couple to marry in the West Point Cadet Chapel. They live in Asbury Park, NJ.