1981 Toronto bathhouse raids
Encyclopedia
Operation Soap was a raid by the Metropolitan Toronto Police
against four gay bathhouse
s in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
, which took place on February 5, 1981. More than three hundred men were arrested, the largest mass arrest
in Canada since the 1970 October crisis
, before the record was broken during the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs
in Edmonton, Alberta.
The event marked a major turning point in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered
community in Canada
. The raids and their aftermath are today widely considered to be the Canadian equivalent of the 1969 Stonewall riots
in New York City
. Mass protests and rallies were held denouncing the incident. These evolved into Toronto's current Gay Pride Week, which is now one of the world's largest gay pride
festivals and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2010.
Several Toronto bathhouses had previously been raided, and other raids followed. Most charges connected to the incident were eventually dropped or discharged, although some bathhouse owners were fined. Canada's "bawdy-house" law, under which the charges in this raid were laid, has never been repealed, but has only rarely been applied against gay establishments since the trials connected to the 1981 raids ended.
At the time it was widely believed that the raids were approved by Attorney General of Ontario
Roy McMurtry
and the provincial government. In a 2007 interview, however, McMurtry said that this was not the case: "The irony of the whole thing was that I had expressed my concern to the chief of police; that it really looked like we were dissolving into a police state. The whole thing looked terrible. Without a doubt, that was one of my most frustrating experiences." McMurtry subsequently served as Chief Justice
of Ontario and wrote the 2003 decision of Ontario's Court of Appeal in favour of same-sex marriage
.
By April 1983, 87 per cent of the "found-ins" charged in the Toronto and Montreal raids have been acquitted at trial; 36 individuals have been found guilty but received absolute or conditional discharges. The last remaining charge related to the 1981 raids was settled by plea bargain on February 7, 1985.
Toronto Police Service
The Toronto Police Service , formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the police service for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Canada and second largest police force in Canada after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...
against four gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...
s in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, which took place on February 5, 1981. More than three hundred men were arrested, the largest mass arrest
Mass arrest
A mass arrest occurs when the police apprehend large numbers of suspects at once. This sometimes occurs at illegal protests. Some mass arrests are also used in an effort combat gang activity. This is sometimes controversial, and lawsuits sometimes result...
in Canada since the 1970 October crisis
October Crisis
The October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec during October 1970 in the province of Quebec, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.The circumstances ultimately culminated in the only peacetime use...
, before the record was broken during the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs
2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs for the National Hockey League championship began on April 21, 2006, following the 2005–06 regular season. The sixteen teams that qualified, seeded one through eight from each conference, played best-of-seven series with re-seeding after the conference quarterfinals...
in Edmonton, Alberta.
The event marked a major turning point in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The raids and their aftermath are today widely considered to be the Canadian equivalent of the 1969 Stonewall riots
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Mass protests and rallies were held denouncing the incident. These evolved into Toronto's current Gay Pride Week, which is now one of the world's largest gay pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
festivals and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2010.
Several Toronto bathhouses had previously been raided, and other raids followed. Most charges connected to the incident were eventually dropped or discharged, although some bathhouse owners were fined. Canada's "bawdy-house" law, under which the charges in this raid were laid, has never been repealed, but has only rarely been applied against gay establishments since the trials connected to the 1981 raids ended.
At the time it was widely believed that the raids were approved by Attorney General of Ontario
Attorney General of Ontario
The Attorney General of Ontario is a senior member of the Executive Council of Ontario and governs the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario - the department responsible for the oversight of the justice system within the province. The Attorney General is an elected Member of Provincial...
Roy McMurtry
Roy McMurtry
Roland "Roy" McMurtry, OC, OOnt is a judge and former politician in Ontario, Canada and the current Chancellor of York University.-Early life:McMurtry was born in Toronto and educated at St. Andrew's College, graduating in 1950...
and the provincial government. In a 2007 interview, however, McMurtry said that this was not the case: "The irony of the whole thing was that I had expressed my concern to the chief of police; that it really looked like we were dissolving into a police state. The whole thing looked terrible. Without a doubt, that was one of my most frustrating experiences." McMurtry subsequently served as Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of Ontario and wrote the 2003 decision of Ontario's Court of Appeal in favour of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
.
1981
- February 5: At 11 p.m., more than 150 police simultaneously raid the Club BathsClub Bathsthumb|2005, Club WashingtonClub Baths is a chain of gay bathhouses in the United States and Canada with particular prominence from the 1960s through the 1990s.At its peak it included 42 bathhouses. It claimed to have at least 500,000 members...
, the Romans II Health and Recreation Spa, the Richmond Street Health Emporium and the Barracks in Toronto. Twenty owners are charged with "keeping a common bawdyhouse"; 286 men are charged as found-ins. The Richmond is so heavily damaged that it never reopens. - February 6: Over 3,000 protestors stage a mass demonstration against the raids, blocking traffic at several major intersections.
- February 11: Gay activist George HislopGeorge HislopGeorge Hislop was one of Canada's most influential gay activists. He was the first openly gay candidate for municipal office in Canada, as well as the first openly gay candidate for any political office in Ontario , and was a key figure in the early development of Toronto's gay...
announces that he will run as an independent protest candidate in the ridingElectoral district (Canada)An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
of St. George in the 1981 provincial electionOntario general election, 1981The Ontario general election of 1981 was held on March 19, 1981, to elect members of the 32nd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
. - February 16: Metropolitan Community Church of TorontoMetropolitan Community Church of TorontoThe Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto is a congregation of the worldwide Metropolitan Community Church movement located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is an welcoming congregation openly affirming lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual and transgender people...
pastor Brent HawkesBrent HawkesBrent Hawkes, is a Canadian clergyman. Since 1977, he has served as senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto for LGBT parishioners, and is one of Canada's leading gay rights activists....
begins a 25-day hunger strikeHunger strikeA hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
. - February 20: Over 4,000 protestors march from Queen's Park to 52 Division of the Toronto Police.
- March 6: A "Gay Freedom Rally", effectively Toronto's first Pride event, is held. Speakers, including author Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
and Member of Parliament Svend RobinsonSvend RobinsonSvend Robinson is a former Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 2004, representing the suburban Vancouver-area constituency of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party...
, denounce the bathhouse raids. Robinson would later become Canada's first openly gay Member of Parliament in 1989; although he was already an MP and a civil libertarian activist at the time of the raids, he had not yet publicly come out. - March 12: Hawkes ends his hunger strike when Toronto City CouncilToronto City CouncilThe Toronto City Council is the governing body of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors....
asks the mayor's community and race relations advisor, Daniel HillDaniel G. HillDaniel Grafton Hill III, was a Canadian sociologist, civil servant, human rights specialist, and Black Canadian historian....
, to investigate the bathhouse raids and the larger issue of police relations with the gay community. Hill later declines, but Arnold Bruner takes on the investigation on July 13. - March 19: The provincial election is held; Hislop loses to Progressive ConservativeProgressive Conservative Party of OntarioThe Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
candidate Susan FishSusan FishSusan Fish is a former Canadian politician. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller....
. Fish was also supportive of the gay community in her riding; shortly after her election, she participated in a rally at Queen's Park to support the inclusion of sexual identity in the Ontario Human Rights CodeOntario Human Rights CodeThe Human Rights Code of Ontario is a provincial law in the province of Ontario, Canada that gives all people equal rights and opportunities without discrimination in specific areas such as jobs, housing and services...
. - March 30: Charges stemming from an earlier raid at the Barracks go to trial.
- April 21: Six more people, including Hislop, are charged in connection to the February 5 raid.
- May 30: A similar raid takes place in EdmontonEdmontonEdmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, AlbertaAlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. - June 12: The March 30 trial finds two Barracks employees guilty of keeping a common bawdyhouse; three owners are found not guilty.
- June 16: Police raid two more bathhouses, the Back Door Gym and Sauna and the International Steam Baths, arresting a further 21 men.
- June 20: Demonstrators protest the June 16 raids; police violence against the protestors is reported.
- July 3: The New Democratic PartyNew Democratic PartyThe New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
calls for the bawdyhouse section of the Criminal Code of CanadaCriminal Code of CanadaThe Criminal Code or Code criminel is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is "An Act respecting the criminal law"...
to be repealed. - September 24: Bruner's report, Out of the Closet: Study of Relations Between Homosexual Community and Police, is released. It recognizes the gay community as a legitimate community, and calls for a permanent dialogue committee between the community and the Toronto Police.
- September 30: A man charged with assaulting a police officer at the June 20 protests is acquitted in provincial court; the judge calls for an investigation into police conduct.
- October 7: Toronto's lesbianLesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
community holds its first Dykes in the Street march. - November 2: The first keeper trial from the February 5 raids comes before the court. One employee pleads guilty, but is given an absolute discharge; five others have their charges withdrawn.
- November 20: The head of the Club Baths pleads guilty to conspiracy and is fined $40,000.
1982
- January 11: The owner of the Richmond Street baths pleads guilty; five other charges are dropped.
- January 20: Police chief Jack AckroydJack AckroydJack Wesley Ackroyd was a prominent Canadian Chief of Police and high level Ontario civil servant. He served as the chief of the Metro Toronto Police Force from 1980 to 1984. Known as an ideas man, and 'kind cop' he introduced community policing when he was the deputy chief...
issues a statement that gay people are entitled to "the same rights, respect, service and protection as all citizens", and recognizing them as "legitimate members of the community". Gay leaders note, however, that his statement recognizes gay individuals, but says nothing about the legitimacy of "the gay community". - February 6: A demonstration commemorating the anniversary of the raids is held.
- March 26: One owner of the Back Door Gym is found guilty and fined $3,000; two others are given conditional discharges.
- June 2: A full-page ad supporting repeal of the bawdyhouse laws, signed by over 1,400 people, appears in The Globe and MailThe Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
.
By April 1983, 87 per cent of the "found-ins" charged in the Toronto and Montreal raids have been acquitted at trial; 36 individuals have been found guilty but received absolute or conditional discharges. The last remaining charge related to the 1981 raids was settled by plea bargain on February 7, 1985.
External links
- "No more raids!" Bathhouse protests - CBC TelevisionCBC TelevisionCBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
Archive - The Toronto bathhouse raids - CBC RadioCBC RadioCBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
Archive - 1982 documentary about the raids