Everett George Klippert was the last person in Canada to be arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and jailed for being gay. Klippert was originally from Kindersley, Saskatchewan and was raised in Calgary, Alberta. In 1965, he was picked up by the police for questioning in a case of suspected arson. He had nothing to do with the fire but admitted to police to having consensual homosexual relations with four different adult men.Because homosexual acts were classified as “lewdness” and “gross indecency” under Canadian law, Clippert was convicted. He was called a dangerous sex offender. In November 1967, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld this life sentence in a polarizing 3–2 decision. The public anger was intense. Large sections of the Canadian public and media found it disgusting that a person could be sentenced to life in prison for consensual private acts.
Pierre Trudeau and a starting point for gay rights in Canada
Canada’s Justice Minister was Pierre Trudeau, who later became Prime Minister, father of Justin Trudeau. A month after the Supreme Court’s decision, Trudeau introduced Bill C-150, also known as the omnibus bill. This bill, passed in 1969, decriminalized homosexuality.In 1967, Trudeau spoke these words that redefined Canadian political culture and modernized Canadian social policy on many fronts.He said: “It is certainly the case that what is done in private between consenting adults has no bearing on the criminal code. Take this on homosexuality… there is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”Trudeau became Prime Minister in 1968 and remained Prime Minister until 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984.Trudeau, a highly educated intellectual and lawyer, tried to formally untangle the concepts of sin and crime. In his view, a democratic state had the mandate to maintain public order and prevent harm, but it did not have the mandate to enforce private, religious or moral uniformity. If an act occurs entirely in private between consenting adults, it may be viewed as a sin by religious institutions, but it does not meet the threshold for a crime against the state. This marked a profound generational pivot on the part of the Canadian government, from one that functioned as the moral guardian of the government to one that acted as a neutral arbiter of individual rights.This quote remains a masterclass in political design. Trudeau successfully shifted a volatile debate about morality into a debate about the limits of government authority, turning himself into an icon of modern liberalism and securing the prime ministerial office just one year later.
trudomania
Pierre Trudeau was so popular and charismatic that the term ‘Trudeaumania’ was coined to describe the enthusiasm he aroused in politics. Young Canadians at the time are believed to have been struck by his charm and good looks, and even before he became Prime Minister, he was stopped on the street for autographs or photographs.