Tag Archives: Everett Klippert

Apologies, Auditions, & Gathering

Posted on December 15, 2017 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

Phew. The recent LGBTQ2 apology by the Government of Canada had us run off our feet with media interviews and correspondence with journalists. Fortunately, we found several volunteers to pitch in, to address the volume of sound bites requested. Here are some of the more interesting links if you missed them:

Kevin Allen’s interview with CBC North about Everett Klippert.

Playwright Natalie Meisner’s interview with Global TV about Everett and her upcoming play featuring his story.

Activist Nancy Miller’s interview with CITY-TV.

The Calgary Journal interview about the significance of the apology.

Donald Klippert’s interview with the Calgary Herald about his Uncle Everett.

The LGBTQ2 apology on November 28th was instigated by the Globe and Mail’s John Ibbitson who requested a posthumous pardon for Klippert from the Prime Minister’s Office. He made the ask in February 2016, after he wrote an in-depth feature chronicling Everett’s story. Last week we received a personal email from John referencing the historical research we shared. He wrote: “thanks once again for all your help. Wouldn’t have happened without it…”

Art has the power to both remedy and mend. We are excited to be collaborating with Sage Theatre and Third Street Theatre on the world premiere of Legislating Love: The Everett Klippert Story in March 2018. Sage Theatre has put out a call for theatre actors, and they are accepting auditions until December 20th.

Finally, Calgary’s LGBTQ2 community is gathering for the holidays on December 21st at the Palomino Lounge for A Queerly Festive Dinner. Nine community organizations have come together to produce this holiday meal and drag show which will be both delicious and free! (Donations are gratefully accepted). At this event, Alison Grittner from the YYC Legacy Project will reveal the voluminous community feedback that has been gathered for Calgary’s forthcoming LGBTQ2 commemoration project.

{KA}

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged Alison Grittner, bisexual, Calgary Journal, CBC, CIty TV, Donald Klippert, Everett Klippert, gay, Global TV, globe and mail, Justin Trudeau, Legislating Love, lesbian, Natalie Meisner, queer, Sage Theatre, Third Street Theatre, transgender, YYCLegacy

Klippert Month – the Recap

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Kevin Allen | 5 comments

Here is a recap of Klippert Month (so you can read it all in one place):

Week 1 – Klippert at work;

Week 2 – Klippert’s honesty;

Week 3 – Klippert and his family;

Week 4 – Klippert in the press.

And finally, here is a charming reference I found in the Pine Pointer – the newsletter for employees working at the Cominco Pine Point Mine. This issue was published just two months before the arson event which brought Everett under the scrutiny of local RCMP – and back in jail.

The Pine Pointer Newsletter, June 1, 1965. Source: Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.

Hats off to history and (fingers crossed) posthumous apologies.

{KA}

5 Comments

Posted in Gay history

Tagged bisexual, CLGA, Everett Klippert, gay, lesbian, Pine Point, queer, transgender

Klippert Month – Finale

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Kevin Allen | 2 comments

In exactly one week (November 7th) we will have arrived at the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court verdict in Klippert v. The Queen. In the ruling, Everett George Klippert was declared a dangerous sexual offender for having consensual gay sex. It was confirmed that he should be incarcerated for life to protect both himself and Canadian society.

In this final of four posts, I would like to explore the role of Canadian media in bringing his case forward to the court of public opinion. Newspapers across the country gave the Klippert case a good airing with the bulk of editorials condemning the decision.

In fact Pierre Trudeau’s famous quote:

“Take this thing on homosexuality, I think the view we take here is that there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation, and I think what’s done in private between adults doesn’t concern the Criminal Code.”

was a borrowed phrase from the Globe and Mail’s editorialist Martin O’Malley. (Trudeau thanked O’Malley for the quotation.)

Pierre Trudeau’s 1967 media scrum with the “bedrooms” quote. Click to watch. Source: CBC Archives.

Sidney Katz, who had researched and written about the gay community extensively, wrote a notable column in the Toronto Star titled: “Gentle George Klippert – must he serve LIFE?” His second article quoted the dismayed reactions of many Toronto homosexuals.

The Winnipeg Free Press editorialized: “It is possible to deplore such activity without treating its practitioners as if they were monsters.” Even the Calgary Albertan (now the Calgary Sun) opined that “the spectre of a possible life sentence seems to us a little severe.”

The only big city newspaper in Canada to react in support of the decision was the Edmonton Journal whose position was against homosexual law reform citing its belief in the tendency of homosexuals to prey on the young.

The Montreal Gazette described Klippert “as the most publicized homosexual in history.”

The irony, of course, is that Everett was quickly forgotten and languished in jail for four more years. Even today, people remember Pierre Trudeau’s famous quote but do not connect it to homosexuality and its decriminalization. Many are shocked to learn that homosexuals were ever prosecuted in Canada in the first place.

Everett Klippert became a symbol of injustice and the trigger for law reform in Canada. Despite his life story being featured in every daily newspaper of note, he was not a subject of the nation’s mercy. Not really.

The point of Klippert month was to remember the person: not just the court case; not just the symbol; and not just the political wedge issue he represented in 1967.

He was a Calgarian.

He enjoyed work.

He was honest to a fault.

He had a family who loved him.

And he was gay.