In the midst of the rainbow decor and Pride parties, it’s easy to forget that the first Pride started as a riot. While Canada is widely known as a safe haven for 2SLGBTQ+ people, queer Canadian history is full of protests and long-winded fights for equality. In honour of Pride 2023, Queer & Now spoke with several of the people involved in various protests against bathhouse raids that took place in the GTA.
Tom Hooper is an assistant professor in the Department of Equity Studies at York University, and a historian of the Toronto bathhouse raids.
“There were actually a series of raids, but they’re well known for this mass raid that occurred on February 5, 1981, in which 200 police officers raided four gay bathhouses all at once,” Hooper explained.
“In one night, they rounded up and arrested over 300 men, charging them with criminal offences under the bawdy house law. So, they were beaten, and they were charged because of their sexuality.”
So what was the bawdy house law?
“It was originally designed to prohibit spaces of sex work. So, in other words, a brothel, but it was expanded to include any place that allowed acts of indecency. So, because of that sort of reference to indecency, which was the criminal word for gay sex, then the place would be declared a bawdy house.”
Hooper explained that the raids that occurred on Feb. 5 sparked a major outrage, not only within the queer community, but throughout Toronto.
“This brought together various groups, like the women’s movement, and Black and civil rights activists in the city who had already been fighting back against police violence,” Hooper continued, adding that the protest organized in response to the Feb. 5 raids took place the following night, when over 3,000 people marched down Yonge Street demanding change.
The Feb.6 protest was not the only time the community took to the streets. Hooper shared that there were other protests that pushed back against police raids of bawdy houses, including one that took place a few weeks later, on Feb.20.
“That’s probably the most notable [protest]. If you were to have an image along with the story, you’d probably think of an image of a banner that says ‘Enough is enough,’ which is the typical image that people associate with the bathhouse raids,” Hooper said.
“In that moment, where the queer community was under attack, members of the Black community stood up and used their platform in order to stand in solidarity with queer people. I think that’s a really important part of our history that gets erased.”
The historian shared that he feels the protests erupted not only as a result of the Feb. 5 raids but following a “larger history of our community being under attack.”
“For example, in December 1978, police raided the Barracks Bathhouse. They didn’t arrest hundreds of people, but they did arrest 28 men in one night and in the weeks after that raid, members of the Toronto police actually called the employers of several of the men charged.”
“So, that just sort of highlights how this criminalization also had wider effects on the people who were caught up in these raids. Their jobs were threatened, their family lives were threatened,” Hooper continued, adding that these raids were ongoing throughout the 70s and 80s.
“So, I think, this moment in 1981, which was this huge escalation by the police. That really sparked something that had been brewing for a long time.”
TORONTO BATHHOUSE RAIDS: RON ROSENES
Ron Rosenes is one of the men who was arrested during the 1981 raids, he shared his story with Queer & Now.
“I was charged with being found in a common bawdy house in the Feb. 5, 1981 bathhouse raids at the Romans II Bathhouse,” Rosenes, who is now 75 years old, told Queer & Now.
Rosenes explained that on the evening of the raid, he was at the bathhouse with friends, including his cousin, and other queer men who he says believed “they were able to enjoy consensual sex in a safe space.”
“I was in my room at the time when there was a lot of noise in the corridors. Then fists bashing at the door of my room. I opened it to discover a uniformed police officer,” he said, adding that officers then told him to come to the reception.
“We were rounded up, we were treated brutally, called dirty faggots, and the like. I remember very clearly, clinging to my cousin that night and thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ We’re both Jewish boys, we felt like we were reliving a moment in the Holocaust, being rounded up for crimes – in fact, having committed no crime whatsoever.”
Rosenes explained that he grew up living a reasonably sheltered life in Ottawa, with excellent social support. He described the raid as not only frightening but embarrassing.
“I pleaded guilty. I told the truth, I said I was there that night, and I was one of 36 of the men who were not part of the Rights Privacy Committee strategy, which resulted in not guilty verdicts for most of the men involved.”
Rosenes explained that 42 years later, he still has a record.
“In my case, it led to a guilty plea and a fine for the grand sum of $35. And yes, a record, which to this day – is not a police record – but it’s a record of conviction that has not been expunged.”
The activist explained why he still has the record of conviction.
“So first of all, Bill C-75 finally led to the repeal of the bawdy house law. But that summer, they wanted to get the law passed, and there was no expungement included for people for whom the law was still at that time on the books.”
“I had an opportunity to be part of the group that testified before the Standing Committee on Justice at the federal level, regarding the repeal,” Rosenes said. Tom Hooper was also a part of that committee.
“That was an opportunity to argue for its repeal, something that we were able to achieve successfully. But not in time to get the expungement legislation enabled.”
Hooper explained that the government more recently changed Bill C-66 allowing for those charged under the bawdy house law to apply for expungement. Except, there is a catch.
“If you’re like me, and you have a record of arrest, that record of arrest makes reference to sex for money or sexual services or being exchanged for money,” Rosenes said.
“First of all, the problem with the bawdy house laws was that there was an assumption that sex was being exchanged for money, which, you know, was not the case at all in these bathhouses. These were places where consensual sex was occurring, and money was not being exchanged,” he continued.
“Nonetheless there was a reference to that on my arrest record. And apparently, expungement now has been enabled for people who were captured like me, under the bawdy house laws. But not apparently, if there is a reference to sex being exchanged for money on the record of arrest.”
“So again, it has created a further impediment or obstacle that has prevented me from getting my record expunged,” Rosenes continued.
Hooper added that while Rosenes was not able to get an appeal prior to the update to Bill C-66, the duo has not applied for an expungement for Rosenes since the changes were made.
When asked, Rosenes explained that the record has not necessarily impacted his day-to-day life, or finding work, but he cannot speak for everyone in his position.
“It’s just hanging there in the background. But that might not be the case for other people. Everyone should have the right to get that record expunged.”
TORONTO BATHHOUSE RAIDS: THE PUSSY PALACE & CHANELLE GALLANT
During our interview, Tom Hooper explained that the raids did not stop in the 1980s. The expert said that police in the GTHA continued to raid queer bathhouses throughout the 80s, 90s, and into the 2000s. This included one raid of a women’s bathhouse in 2000, which occurred at an event organized for queer women and transgender people, called The Pussy Palace.
“The Pussy Palace was one night a month that [queer women including] lesbians and also trans people [of all genders] took over one of the gay men’s bathhouses so that they could have a night. During one of these events, Toronto police officers raided The Pussy Palace and charged several of the organizers under liquor licence violations.”
“The raid itself was challenged in the courts and the people who were charged formed a collective to fight back,” Hooper explained, adding that the collective was successful.
The charges that were pressed against two volunteers, Rachel Aitcheson and JP Hornick, were thrown out by a judge in 2002. Hooper explained that the group also successfully won a Human Rights Tribunal that ended in a settlement. According to the Toronto ArQuives, the settlement totaled $350,000, which was dedicated to accumulated legal fees, and charitable causes.
Chanelle Gallant is one of the women who was involved in Pussy Palace Collective. She told Queer & Now that while the events of the Pussy Palace raids are public knowledge, there is a point she wants to highlight, explaining that she believes it’s often left out of the story.
“There were undercover women officers in the place before the male officers entered to conduct the raid and their presence is often overlooked and downplayed,” Gallant shared.
“It is public knowledge, but I think the reason [it is less often reported] is because the presence of men was seen as more harmful than the presence of police. And I think that the presence of the police was the most harmful thing about that raid, and that includes women police officers.”
While there were raids in other parts of the country following the raid on the Pussy Palace, this was the last bathhouse raid in Toronto. Hooper shared that to his knowledge, it was also the first, and last time, that a women’s bathhouse in Toronto was raided.
“Because what happened was we fought back so hard, that’s why it was the first and last raid on a women’s bathhouse,” Gallant said.
Gallant explained her belief that if the organizers had not come together to push back, the raids of these spaces would have continued.
“That teaches us a lot about the power of community organizing. The response to The Pussy Palace raid was very strong from the community,” Gallant said.
Similar to the protests that occurred following the 1981 raids, Gallant explained that people from all parts of the 2SLGBTQ+ community rallied behind those impacted.
“We had very strong solid support, both politically and financially, from gay men who had experienced police harassment, not just in the bathhouses, but in their bars and on the streets, in queer neighborhoods, who’d experienced a lot of police indifference to violence against queer people.”
In 2016, then Toronto police chief Mark Saunders made a public apology for the bathhouse raids, specifically the series of raids that happened in 1981.
“The 35th anniversary of the 1981 raids is a time when the Toronto Police Service expresses its regrets for those very actions. It is also an occasion to acknowledge the lessons learned about the risks of treating any part of Toronto’s many communities as not fully a part of society,” Saunders said.
However, a number of those involved in the Pussy Palace raid, including Gallant, publically voiced the opinion that the apology was not meaningful as it did not reflect change within police practices.
The current Toronto Police Services Chief, Myron Demkiw, was one of the officers involved in the Pussy Palace raid. When his promotion was announced in 2022, Gallant and Hornick released an open letter voicing their concerns about his leadership. Gallant and Hornick then requested a public meeting with the TPS Board and the LGBTQ2S+ community. However, TPS instead offered to organize a private meeting with members of the TPS Board, including Demkiw, and the two activists. Gallant told Queer & Now that former Toronto mayor John Tory and TPS refused their request for a public meeting.
CONTINUING OUR HISTORY OF PROTEST
Both Rosenes and Gallant share the belief that while these raids and subsequent protests may have occurred in the past, they are a reminder that Pride is more important now than ever before.
“It’s really important that people continue to know about this story. And understand, like, this is what happens when you don’t fight for your rights. And we’re in a place right now, where if we’re not fighting for our rights, this is what’s coming back.”
“I can’t imagine anyone watching what’s happening these days would think that 2SLGBTQI people have won the fight! Pride only matters if it remains political. If the Pussy Palace history shows us anything, it’s that when we organize together, we win,” Gallant added.
Rosenes shared similar sentiments.
“It feels to me like we’re living in a time when our rights are at once again, potentially under threat. As an older, white, cisgender, gay man, I don’t feel, you know, particularly threatened. I live in a world where I feel very much accepted by all of the people around me,” he shared, adding that he knows this is not the case for a lot of young queer people, especially people of colour.
“Especially if you’re a person of colour, there are greater challenges that come with that. And I think there’s a time when we have to be particularly mindful and protective of the rights we’ve gained, not to see those eroded.”
“We may have won a number of important battles in our struggle to promote human rights and change attitudes towards sexual minorities and gender diverse people. We may have succeeded in getting the bawdy house laws repealed but there remain several 19th-century morality laws that continue to be used against queer people,” Rosenes continued.
“We have ongoing polarization within society that continues to feed transphobia. We don’t need to go to Florida or Texas to find examples of the current backlash. We don’t need to look further than New Brunswick to find governments attempting to reverse trans-supportive policies.”
“That is why we need Pride more than ever. We need Pride as a party to celebrate our victories but we also need Pride to continue our proud history of protest.”
Queer & Now also had the opportunity to speak with Dennis Findlay, a man who was involved in the Right to Privacy Commission. In a later edition, we’ll explore how that collective of people came together to help the people charged in the bathhouse raids.
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