George Klippert
Everett George Klippert was the only Canadian ever declared a dangerous sexual offender and sentenced to what amounted to life in prison, for no other reason than he was a gay man.
George Everett Klippert (September 6, 1926 – August 7, 1996) was the last person in Canada to be arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for gross indecency before the decriminalization of homosexual acts in 1969; the reform was a direct result of the Klippert case.
A Calgary bus driver, Klippert went to jail for most of the 1960s because he was gay.
The youngest of nine children, Everett grew up in Crescent Heights, and he had his first gay experiences at the age of 16 or 17. Lippert worked for eight years as a popular bus driver for Calgary Transit.
There are stories of his regular passengers skipping earlier buses to specifically ride home with him due to his friendly, congenial nature. In 1960, Calgary police discovered Everett’s homosexuality and he was incarcerated after a speedy trial.
At the time, gay Canadians were convicted in our legal system under the euphemistic charge of “gross indecency.”
Released in 1964, Klippert ended up back in jail in 1965 due to more gross indecency charges. His legal battles with the state went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
In 1967, the judges made a controversial 3-2 decision upholding a lower court ruling that labeled Everett a dangerous sexual offender, worthy of incarceration for life.
On May 14, 1969, Parliament passed Bill C-150, the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Amongst many other provisions, it specifically altered the crimes of gross indecency and buggery in private between two consenting adults aged 21 or older; the bill received royal assent and came into force, which secured Klippert’s eventual freedom from incarceration in 1971, escaping an interminable life sentence.
He lived another 25 years. In 2016 the government of Justin Trudeau indicated that it planned to recommend a formal posthumous pardon of Klippert’s conviction. On November 18, 2020, an expungement order was issued by the Parole Board of Canada.
In 2018, Klippert’s life became the topic of the stage play Legislating Love: The Everett Klippert Story, by Calgary playwright Natalie Meisner.