Cause

In August of 1977, a shoeshine boy was sexually assaulted and murdered by a few men. [1]. Some of the suspects were gay men, which then resulted in the media putting emphasis on gay men and their participation. They manipulated the news and made it seem as though gay men were the problem. [1]. In the year 1979, there were a bunch of media actions and books published (Men Loving Boys Loving Men) which made people hate the gay community further. [1]. An essay written by a staff sergeant gave the wrong impression of gay men by saying things such as gay men are arrogant and trap innocent children for their own benefit. [1].

[1] Jamie Bradburn, “Toronto Bathhouse Raids (1981) | the Canadian Encyclopedia,” Thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, 2018, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/toronto-feature-bathhouse-raids.

On the night of February 5th, 1981, about 200 police officers dressed in plain clothes raided 4 major boathouses in Toronto. [5]. This was the largest mass arrest at the time arresting about 300 men in total while causing damage up to $38,000.00 at the time. [5].

[5] Forrest Picher, “Coming Clean about Operation Soap: The 1981 Toronto Bathhouse Raids,” Active History, June 23, 2015, http://activehistory.ca/2015/06/coming-clean-about-operation-soap-the-1981-toronto-bathhouse-raids/.

Everyone who was engaging in any kind of sexual activity was arrested, even though it was legal to perform any kind of sexual activity one-to-one. [3]. At the time the legal code for sexual rights was highly unclear, giving the police to determine and interpret it as they needed. [5]. In 1969 a bill called Bill C-150 decriminalized homosexual acts. This bill however did not clarify what kinds of acts would be decriminalized. [5]. There was one specified thing, which was that homosexual acts are permitted if done in a private place with only two people. This created more questions as to what is considered private, a boathouse is a public place but it's also private as people can rent rooms. [5]. This gave police the ability to interpret, once again, what “private” was in their own words, giving them a reason to arrest the men. [5]. 

[5] Forrest Picher, “Coming Clean about Operation Soap: The 1981 Toronto Bathhouse Raids,” Active History, June 23, 2015, http://activehistory.ca/2015/06/coming-clean-about-operation-soap-the-1981-toronto-bathhouse-raids/.