Toronto Police To Finally Apologize For Decades-Old Gay Bathhouse Raid

On February 5, 1981, over 100 Toronto police officers broke into four bathhouses, humiliating patrons and arresting nearly 300 men. Now 35 years later, amid a host of other public relations problems, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders will be officially apologizing to the gay community for those raids.

There's significant anticipation for Saunders' statement as the gay community continues to deal with the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, while Toronto is in the midst of celebrating its first ever Pride Month. Saunders will also apologize for the so-called "Pussy Palace" incident, the police raid of Club Toronto, a women's bathhouse, in 2000. The chief is said to be making way for new actions supporting the LGBT community.

In an interview with CBC, Ron Rosenes, who was at one of the bathhouses the day they were raided, says he is looking forward to hearing Saunders' apology. "It needs to be part of the larger discussion we're currently having around police practices and how they impact minorities, particularly LGBT and racialized communities," he said.

"They did wrong," Findlay, president of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, told the Toronto Star. "This was their attempt to slap us into the closet, big time . . . but it didn't work."

The apology comes shortly after the Transformational Task Force released a report last Thursday calling for drastic reform of Toronto's $1-billion per year police force. The task force, co-chaired by Chief Saunders and Toronto Police Services Board chair Andy Pringle, urges Toronto police to increase community involvement, update technologies, eliminate paid duty, and prioritize incident responses. Other recommendations include a three-year hiring freeze, disbanding the controversial Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) and the merging of a number of police divisions. The recommendations would save the cash-crunched city about $100-million.

Mayor John Tory called the task force report "one of the most significant documents" regarding the Toronto police force in the last quarter century. However, despite falling crime rates and rapidly rising costs, few politicians have fought the Toronto Police Association to much success.

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