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The Right to Privacy Committee and Bathhouse Raids in Toronto, 1978-83

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The Right to Privacy Committee and Bathhouse Raids in Toronto, 1978-83 “Enough is Enough”: The Right to Privacy Committee and Bathhouse Raids in Toronto, 1978-83 By Tom Hooper A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate program in History York University Toronto, Ontario December 2016 © Tom Hooper, 2016 ii Abstract On Thursday February 5th, 1981, 200 agents from the Metropolitan Toronto Police raided four of the city’s gay bathhouses. Codenamed “Operation Soap,” 286 men were charged with the criminal offense of being “found in a common bawdy house,” 20 men faced the more serious charge of “keeping a common bawdy house.” Operation Soap was known for its scale, but also for its destruction and brutality. This dissertation focusses on the history of the Right to Privacy Committee (RTPC), a group formed in 1978 in response to Toronto’s first bathhouse raid. This study utilizes oral history from 25 interviews, the gay liberation news journal The Body Politic, as well as archival material from the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. The bathhouse raids are situated within the broader history of queer consciousness, resistance, and political organizing, both in Toronto and across North America. The 1969 amendments to the Canadian Criminal Code partially decriminalized certain sexual acts, provided they took place under a strict set of circumstances: namely, that only two people could be present. If more than two people were present, the space was deemed by police to be a public place and subject to the bawdy house law. Building on the work of queer theorists, this project argues that the ideal of private sexual monogamy, or mononormativity, was the primary point of conflict between law enforcement discourse of morality and the sexual practices performed within a bathhouse. This is a history of the RTPC and the various tactics they employed in resisting the police. The RTPC became best known for its various political actions, coordinating the successful defence of 90% of the men charged, and for raising $224,000 to subsidize the cost of their legal fees. However, the RTPC reflected some of the divisions and complexity of an increasingly diverse queer political community, including gay business owners, Marxists, feminists, and people of colour. The central theme of this project is that the RTPC was not a singular organization, it consisted of various resisters of social control who were influenced by their own identities and experiences. iii Dedication For Dennis Findlay, and the hundreds of other queers who mobilized in resistance to bath raids by joining the Right to Privacy Committee. iv Acknowledgements I am grateful to many who supported and mentored me throughout this project. I learned how to be a scholar and a teacher from my supervisor, Marcel Martel. I first met him as an undergraduate curious about a future in grad school. He never wavered in his support and guidance. Thank you, Marcel, for believing in me, and for many years of meetings, lunches, dinners, and grappa. Craig Heron rescued my mind and emotions at key moments through the course of this study. This support was provided alongside intellectual rigor and attention to detail that shaped this work into something I am proud of. Jennifer Stephen provided insight and inspiration, particularly on issues of theory. I am greatly appreciative to the examining committee for their thoughtful feedback as I move forward as an historian. The York University Graduate Program in History has a large group of wonderful mentors, friends, and support staff. Thank you to Bill Wicken, Marcel Martel, Craig Heron, and Molly Ladd-Taylor for showing me how to be a successful course director. In the first year of the program, there were certain professors, including Bettina Bradbury, Anne Rubenstein, and Kate McPherson, who especially contributed to my development as an individual and scholar. Thank you, Karen Dancy, Lisa Hoffman, Anita Szucsko, Dharshi Sivitharshini, Daniela DiNunzio, and Jeannine Flint for years of professional support. This dissertation was possible due to decades of work by hundreds of volunteers that enabled the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA) to serve as a repository of queer stories and history. Harold Averill, Don McLeod, Colin Deinhardt, Paul Leatherdale, and Alan Miller gave me their time and expertise to help in unearthing this history. When Harold joked, “there is enough in these boxes for an entire dissertation,” I took it seriously. Thank you for the support and inspiration. I am grateful for the individuals who met with me to speak on record regarding their experiences in the bath raids, and for agreeing to donate this material to the CLGA for further study. There is a group of activists who agreed to share their memories with me, not only in planned oral history interviews, but also from dozens of random emails with an endless stream of questions. Tim McCaskell, Gary Kinsman, Dennis Findlay, David Rayside, Gerald Hannon, Brent Hawkes, and Peter Maloney were gracious and expedient in answering my queries. I want to particularly thank Ed Jackson for reviewing this project and preparing me for the defence. There are many individuals I wish I could have interviewed, I am mindful that this story is incomplete due to the lost voices and histories of queer activists who have passed away. Thank you to my Mom, Dad and family for always providing me with a loving, accepting home. Your emotional, mental, and material support made this study possible. Thank you, Mom, for serving as an editor on this project, and in record time. I am also grateful to Dave Brandow (and family) for almost two decades of friendship, support, and cottage retreats. To Matt, Greg, and Dave, thank you for teaching me about love, romance, and kindness. Friends Daniel Ross, Francesca D’Amico, Will Stos, Gil Fernandes, and Mathieu Brûlé have been exceptional colleagues. Cheers to the CGSL Cocktails Softball Club for summertime diversions. Thank you, Annie, for endless cat cuddles. Finally, I would not be here at this stage but for the two guardian angels of my doctoral career: Funke Aladejebi and Pamela Fuentes. I will forever owe this degree to these two wonderful people. v Table of Contents Introduction: Endless Night 1 Chapter 1 – Queer Toronto in the 1970s and the Origins of the Right to Privacy Committee 26 “We Demand” and the Creation of a Dynamic Political Community 28 Scrutiny and Unity – Jaques, Men Loving Boys, Anita Bryant 33 Spaces of Surveillance: Bathhouse Business in Toronto in the 1970s 39 Infiltrating and Raiding the Barracks: The December 9 Defense Fund 45 Don Franco Part I: Advocating for a Right to Privacy 52 Conclusion: The RTPC, The Community, and the Police 58 Chapter 2 – “The Politics of Distraction”: Minority Communities and the Umbrella Effect 60 News and Views: The Umbrella Effect 62 Don Franco Part II: Respectable Business, Professionalizing Protest, and the “Zap” 75 Hot Tub Halloween: RTPC Policy Conference and the “Politics of Distraction” 90 Hislop, the 1980 Municipal Election, and the RTPC Financial Conflict 98 Conclusion: Coalitions and Distractions 111 Chapter 3 – Operation Soap and the RTPC Revolution 113 February 5, 1981: Operation Soap 114 RTPC Coup and the Creation of the Public Action Committee 127 Legitimizing the Community: The Bruner Report 137 Lesbian Intersectionality and the Focus on Criminal Code Reform 151 Conclusion: Legitimate, but Still Criminal 158 Chapter 4 – The RTPC Goes to Ottawa: Confronting Mononormativity in Parliament, 1982 159 Heterosexism, Mononormativity, and the Criminal Code 162 The Law Reform Commission of Canada 168 Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs 175 Conclusion: Bathhouses and Group Sex 191 Chapter 5 – Community Service: The Right to Privacy Foundation and Gay Court Watch 195 “A Skirmish in a Long Struggle” – The Barracks Trial 199 Securing a Legacy of Victory: The Operation Soap Found-in Trials 215 Continuing the Politics of Service: Gay Court Watch 245 Conclusion: Creating a Community Through Service 260 Conclusion: The Legacy of the 1981 Bathhouse Raids 262 Searching for the ‘Smoking Gun’ 262 Canada’s Stonewall? 265 Rethinking ‘Decriminalization’ in the 1969 Omnibus Bill 267 Cleaning Queer Sex – Mononormativity and the Marriage Debates 269 The RTPC: Resisters of Social Control 270 Bibliography 273 vi Abbreviations ACSW Advisory Council on the Status of Women ADGLQ Association pour les droits des gais et lesbiennes du Québec ADGQ Association pour les droits des gais du Québec AGE Association of Gay Electors CASH Committee Against Street Harassment CCB Citizens Complaint Bureau CCLA Canadian Civil Liberties Association CDJD Committee to Defend John Damien CGRO Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario CHAT Community Homophile Association of Toronto CHAR Comité homosexuel anti-repression CIRPA Citizens Independent Review of Police Action GATE Gay Alliance Toward Equality GCW Gay Court Watch GLARE Gays and Lesbians Against the Right Everywhere GLU Gay Liberation Union GSP Gay Street Patrol JCA Jamaican Canadians Association LAH League Against Homosexuals LAR Lesbians Against the Right LCC Legal Coordinating Committee (RTPC) LDF Legal Defense and Education Fund LLBO Liquor Licence Board of Ontario LOOT Lesbian Organization of Toronto NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People NAC National Action Committee on the Status of Women NAWL National Association of Women and the Law NDP New Democratic Party NGRC National Gay Rights Coalition OPC Ontario Police
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