4. In what year was the last* bathhouse raid conducted by police in Canada?
2004!
* “Last” here means “last one that has been publicly documented by journalists, activists, or historians."
Sometimes in my work, I encounter people who struggle to understand why so many 2S/LGBTQIA+ Canadians are opposed to police participation in Pride-related events. And that’s when I put on my historian hat, and I tell them about the Bathhouse Raids.
Most people have heard of the Stonewall Riots, the infamous event in 1969 where queers fought back against police violence after a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. Less well-known is that police have a long history of raiding bars in Canada as well—historian Tom Hooper has found at least 38 police raids that occurred between 1968 and 2004! Of the 38 raids, at least five of them have significant historical impacts—look into the ‘Olympic Clean-Up’ raid at Truxx and le Mystique (Montreal, 1977), ‘Operation Soap’ (Toronto, 1981), the Sex Garage raid (Montreal, 1990), and the Pussy Palace raid (Toronto, 2000) for more.
Image: The street view of Warehouse Spa & Bath. Credit: Joshua Meles, Xtra. This is from an era where Xtra put colour filters on all of their photos, and was the only photo I could find of Warehouse.
The last well-known police raid in Canada on a queer gathering place happened in Hamilton in the summer of 2004. On August 3, nine people raided the Warehouse Spa & Bath as part of a Multi-Agency Task Force raid on fourteen Hamilton-based businesses that night. Two people at Warehouse were arrested and charged for “indecent acts,” although witnesses later said that there was no sexual activity happening at the time of the raid.¹ Police officers shoved the men, who were wearing nothing but towels, up against the wall and shoved their faces against the wall when the men tried to speak. Police were also criticized later for forcing the men to change from the towels into other clothing in front of female officers, although according to the police, no female officers were in the room when the men were getting dressed.² Although police maintained the raid was part of a routine inspection, they later admitted they had been monitoring a gay cruising site in Hamilton, leaving the community to conclude they had been specifically and prejudicially targeted.
The Warehouse raid caused an uproar in the queer community and damaged already rocky relationships with the police in Hamilton.³ It was an important reminder, for both community members and those outside of it, that the historical contentious relationship between police and the queer community was far from over.
Further Learning:
Olympic ‘clean-up’ and TRUXX Raids (Montreal, 1975-1977)
Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile, “Queer resistance to Olympic cleanup.” Published December 08, 2009.
Note: I was very surprised at the lack of scholarship on this raid, because it seems to me it was a very substantial one! If anyone has any links or info about Truxx, I’d love to learn more. And if anyone is looking for a good topic for a thesis or a paper, this seems like an area that’s crying out for more serious research!
Operation Soap/The Toronto Bathhouse Raids (1981)
ArQuives digital exhibition on the Bathhouse Raids.
Jamie Bradburn. “Toronto Bathhouse Raids" (1981).” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Last edited April 17, 2018.
Buddies in Bad Times Youth/Elders Podcast. “We’re here, we’re queer, and… it’s Complicated.” Published October 17, 2019.
Sex Garage Raid, 1990
Denise Benson, “Montreal’s Stonewall: How the Sex Garage Raid Mobilized a Generation of LGBT Activists.” VICE. Published March 13, 2017.
Linda Dawn Hammond. “SEXGARAGE.” 2018. <— Linda Dawn’s photos are some of the most compelling photos of activism I’ve ever seen. Check these out!
Queer Legends Podcast Season 1, Episode 1: “Sex Garage: The Montreal police raid that sparked queer revolution.”
Pussy Palace Raid, 2000
Jessica Taylor and Ami Powell. “The Pussy Palace Raid: A Brief History.” The ArQuives. 26 September 2019.
Pussy Palace Oral History Project
Sources/Endnotes:
Tanya Gulliver, “Charged for bathhouse sex.” Xtra Magazine. August 18, 2004.
Natalie Alcoba, “Gays vent anger over bathhouse inspection.” The Hamilton Spectator. August 6, 2004.
Clare-Marie de Souza. “The Decline of Queer Establishments in Hamilton, Ontario: An Exploration of Queer Space-Making.” Spectrum, vol 2. September 2022.
Scott Bergman, “Pride in Hamilton: An independent review into the events surrounding Hamilton Pride 2019.” Cooper, Sandler, Shime & Schwartzentruber LLP. June 8, 2020.
