LGBT History Month: Everett George Klippert

Everett George Klippert was the last person in Canada to be

arrested

charged

prosecuted

convicted

and imprisoned

for homosexuality before its legalization in 1969. It is a widely held belief that most, if not all, the reforms which led to Canadian legalization of homosexuality were a direct result of the Klippert case.

Klippert, a mechanic in the Northwest Territories, was questioned by police in 1965 on an arson charge. Though he found not to have any connection to the arson, during his interrogation, Klippert admitted to having had consensual sex with four separate adult men.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with four counts of "gross indecency".

At his trial, a court-ordered psychiatrist assessed Klippert as "incurably homosexual", and the judge sentenced him to "preventive detention," which is indefinite imprisonment, as a dangerous sexual offender.

For consensual sex with other adult males.

Klippert appealed to the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories; his appeal was dismissed. He then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada; his appeal was dismissed in a controversial 3-2 decision.

The day after Klippert's conviction was upheld, New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas used the name Everett George Klippert in the Canadian House of Commons, stating that homosexuality should not be considered a criminal issue. Within six weeks, Pierre Trudeau presented the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which, among other things, decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults. The law passed, and homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada in 1969.

Klippert, however, remained in prison for another two years, until July 21, 1971.

He died from kidney disease in 1996.