NCJ Number
81324
Journal
Canadian Criminology Forum Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1981) Pages: 101-117
Date Published
1981
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the interplay between police raiding processes, media images of deviance, politics, and the development of a collective 'gay' response to criminalization in Canada.
Abstract
Gay baths in Toronto provide a private environment for casual sex while avoiding public identification and stigmatization. The 1981 Toronto gay steambath raids resulted in the largest arrest quota since the War Measure Act was invoked in 1970 to effect the largest mass arrest in the city's history. Media accounts of the 1981 bath raids reported bondage practices and the 'filthy' conditions of the premises. Public accounts presented the police and media as moral crusaders committed to unmasking and eradicating deviant enterprises which violate public behavioral values. The police action and the supportive public response culminated in the largest antipolice rallies and marches in Toronto's history and a call for an independent inquiry into police actions. Apparently, the Toronto bath raids were an attempt by police authorities to recoup ebbing public support by their failure to solve a number of heavily publicized brutal murders in 1980. The police conducted their moral campaign anticipating no public or political support for gay rights, only a limited gay response. The decision to raid the baths failed to benefit police morale and alienated further a deviant group whose sexual behavior will not change. Moreover, aspects of freedom and private morality have been seriously threatened. Eleven notes and 58 references are provided.