February 5 Toronto Almost 200 police […]

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1981-02-05

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February 5 Toronto Almost 200 police officers carried out Operation Soap, a massive raid on the four major Toronto gay bathhouses (The Barracks, 56 Widmer Street; Club Baths Toronto, 231 Mutual Street; Richmond Street Health Emporium, 260 Richmond Street East; Romans II, 742 Bay Street). The police charged 286 men either as found-ins (266) or keepers (20) of a common bawdy house in the largest mass arrest in Canada since the War Measures Act was imposed during the October Crisis of 1970. The men were humiliated and insulted. The city's health department required the alleged keepers to undergo compulsory VD checks. In addition, the police caused more than $35,000 in damage when they used crowbars and sledgehammers to break down doors, smash glass and mirrors, and destroy equipment. The Richmond Street Health Emporium was so badly damaged it closed permanently on February 17, 1981. In the weeks following the raids, there was also an increase in physical attacks on gay men within the gay village surrounding Yonge and Wellesley streets. There was much speculation concerning the reason behind the raids, and the timing of them. Although the police claimed that the raids came after six months of "investigation," they coincidentally took place the same week that Ontario Premier Bill Davis called a provincial election for March 19, 1981. There was some speculation that the law-and-order Conservatives would use the raids to galvanize conservative voters to take back Toronto ridings held by the NDP. The bath raids were one of the most significant events in Toronto's gay history, and are sometimes referred to as "Toronto's Stonewall." As of September 16, 1982, the cases of 261 men had been processed in the courts; 225 were found not guilty. Fifteen men pleaded guilty, and twenty pleaded not guilty but were found guilty (two of these were under appeal); the men found guilty received absolute or conditional discharges. The last remaining charge related to the February 5, 1981, raids was settled by plea bargain on February 7, 1985. The total cost of the raids to the taxpayers of Toronto and Ontario was estimated to be almost $10 million. In July 1982, a ninety-minute documentary that discusses the raids and reaction to them, premiered. Track Two, by Harry Sutherland, Jack Lemmon, and Gordon Keith, remains one of the most important documents of the entire affair; it was restored by PTP and re-released in 2011, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the raids. (See also numerous entries throughout the rest of 1981, especially February 6, 1981; February 10, 1981; February 11, 1981; February 12, 1981; February 17, 1981; February 19, 1981; February 20, 1981; February 24, 1981; February 26, 1981; March 12, 1981; April 22, 1981; April 23, 1981; May 14, 1981; June 16, 1981; June 20, 1981; July 13, 1981; September 24, 1981; November 2, 1981; November 19, 1981; November 20, 1981; November 23–27, 1981; and December 11, 1981.)

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Toronto Barracks Bathhouse The Club Baths Richmond Street Health Emporium

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William Davis Gordon Keith Harry Sutherland Jack Lemmon

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Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario New Democratic Party Ontario Pink Triangle Press

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War Measures Act Track Two

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Peter Zorzi, "File 25: The Raids," […]

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