Toronto bathhouse raids: How the arrests galvanized the gay community

On Feb.4,1981,the Toronto gay community, like many communities,was somewhatfractured, with many disparate voices and factions offering opinions on how to advance their issues.

But the next night marked a pivotal moment in galvanizing the communitywhen police officersarmed with crowbars and sledgehammersraided four city bathhouses andarrested more than250gay men.

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"When the bathhouse raids hit, we were under attack. The response was universal," saidDennis Findlay, president of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.

"Not just within the gay community and the lesbiancommunitybut the straightcommunity also went, 'What is going on here?That is an utter invasion of people's privacy.'"

The aftermath of the 1981 bathhouse raids in Toronto

8 years ago

Duration 0:33

Archival footage from a bathhouse that was raided by Toronto police in 1981. Lawyer and activist Clayton Ruby denounces the raids.

A number of drug charges were laid, but those who owned or worked in the bathhouseswerechargedwith keepinga common bawdyhouse. Patronsof thebathhouseswerechargedwith being found in a commonbawdy house.

'Game changer'

"I would never, ever wish to inflict upon anyone the kind of horror that those people who were arrestedwere put through," Findlay said.

"It was a game changer for many individualswithin the community to realizeno, we're nottaking this shit anymore."

Today, in an attempt to make amends for those raids,Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders willapologizefor the actions of the force 35 years ago.

For community health advocate Ron Rosenes, whowas one of the men arrested, an apology is "a great place to start," but it needs to be part of the larger discussion about police actions as a whole.

Rosenessaid it was a "truly shocking" experience forhim, then33, when police suddenly knocked on his bathhouse room door, pushed it inand arrested him. He was given a summons and had toappear in court, "another moment of very humiliating public exposure forsomething I reallyfelt was entirely normal and within my own right."

While hisfriends and family knew he was gay, thatwas not the casefor many of the men who were at the bathhouses at the time.

'Lives ruined'

"Lives were ruined, reputations were ruined, people lost their jobs.It was horrible, and the community reallystruck back at the time," Rosenes told CBC Radio'sMetro Morning.

The community did, indeed, strike back, usingflyers, phone calls and word of mouth to organizea rally for the following night to protest the actions of the police.When Findlay arrived for the protestat the cornerof Yongeand Wellesley streets, 3,000 people had gathered.

1981 Toronto bathhouse raid protests: Raw footage

44 years ago

Duration 2:02

Warning: offensive language. Raw footage of street demonstrations after Toronto police raided multiple bathhouses in 1981. Footage dated Feb. 7, 1981.

They marchedto Toronto police52 division, which was surrounded by police, shoulder to shoulder, Findlay said.

"They were stony silent. I thinkthey weresoshocked that 3,000 peoplein the city of Torontoin 1981 decidedthey'd done wrong."

There followed almostinstantaneouscommunityreactionon a scalethat wasextraordinary.- David Rayside, helped organize legal defence fund after raids

A smaller group then marchedto the Ontario legislature at Queen's Park, wheresome scuffles took place between officers and protesters.

Findlay joined the legal defence committee that had been formed to represent those charged, as did David Rayside, now a University of Toronto political science professor and former director of the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.

Rayside managed the defence fund, co-ordinating lawyers and legal strategies, helping to raise money for legal fees and figuring out how to distribute the funds.

"There followed almostinstantaneouscommunityreactionon a scalethat wasextraordinary," he said.

"People who had not been particularly active inadvocacyeitherpersuadedthemselvesor werepersuaded to fight these charges."

The majority of the charges were either dismissed or dropped. Findlay, thoughhe had no legal training, said he acted as a legalagent for 12 defendants, representing them in courtand getting their charges dismissed.

Findlay said that the while changes had been slowly coming with regards to gay rights, the raidsand subsequent reactionwere a transformative event.

For example, those who had been involved with the legal defence team went into the AIDS Committee of Toronto and began to organize around "defending ourselves against this disease and people's prejudices around that disease," Findlay said.

'It was our Stonewall'

"The outcomeof all that was, we became astrongercommunity, webegantoorganizeand we learned howto organize really well," Findlay said.

"It was our Stonewall," he said, referring to the1969 raids of New York City'sStonewall Inn, which was popular among the city'sgayand transgender community. Those arrestsled to a series of riots but are alsocredited for launchingthe gay rights movement in the U.S.

"In hindsight, I look upon the bathhouse raids as probably one of the best things that ever happened to theLGBTcommunity at that time,"Findlay said.