June 16 Toronto Twenty-three […]

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When

1981-06-16

Description

June 16 Toronto Twenty-three plainclothes officers from Metro Toronto Police conducted simultaneous afternoon raids on two bathhouses. They raided the International Steam Bath, 458 Spadina Avenue, and charged the attendant, Joseph Soucy, with keeping a common bawdy house; owner Michael Woszczyna was charged later (his trial began February 1, 1982). Ten men were charged as found-ins. Police also arrested eleven men (three as keepers, eight as found-ins) in a raid of the Back Door Gym and Sauna, 12½ Elm Street. Police admitted the bathhouses had been under surveillance since August 1980. On March 26, 1982, a Provincial court judge found Alan Fetterly, the owner of the Back Door, guilty of keeping a common bawdy house and fined him $3,000. Two other men were given conditional discharges. (See also June 20, 1981.)

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June 20 Toronto The Provincial […]

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International Steam Bath Toronto

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Alan Fetterly Michael Woszczyna Joseph Soucy

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Toronto Police Service

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"Toronto Police Continue Vendetta," Gay Niagara News, 2, no. 5 (June 1981): 1, 3."STOP PRESS!: Fifth Bath Busted in Daytime Police Raid," Body Politic, no. 75 (1981), p. 11 "Police Swoop Down, Pick Up 21 More Arrests: Two More Raids," TBP Newsbreak: Supplement to The Body Politic, July/August 1981, p. 1 "Police Charge 21 in Bathhouse Raids," Toronto Star, four star ed., 17 June 1981, p. A3 Ian Harvey, "Gays Enraged by 21 Arrests: Steambath Raids," Toronto Sun, 17 June 1981, p. 22 Diane Ellson, "Increased Police Action Feared by Homosexuals," Globe and Mail, metro ed., 18 June 1981, p. 14 Back Door Bath papers , accession 1990–007, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Toronto Ian Austen, "21 Arrested in Swoop on 2 Bathhouses," Globe and Mail, metro ed., 17 June 1981, p. 5 "Arrest Number 338 Helps Trial List Grow," Body Politic, no. 77 (1981), pp. 14–15

Graph Legend

Michael Woszczyna

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