30 Infamo Police Raids of Gay Bars and Bathho

The Towleroad blog has a great post that reviss New York’s first rerd anti-gay raid on the Ariston Baths Manhattan 1903. And though I was never an aficnado of the Bathhoe scene, the gay history buff me cid to do some rearch and even I was a b surprised by the strong * gay bathhouses raids *

Fifty years after the Black Cat protts Los Angel, which directly led to the lnch of The Advote, we take a look at some of the most nsequential strik on gay bars and bathho datg back more than a century. The rmatn gathered actually led to a wir vtigatn of homosexualy nearby ci, which rulted 20 arrts, cludg two ps on the Baker Street beat, acrdg to Allan Bebe’s A History of Bathho. Moral reformers New York Cy raised polil prsure on police the 1920s to shut down the Lafayette Brothers’ Turkish Baths, a popular spot for gay men livg and visg the cy.

CALGARY BATHHOE RAID ANGERS GAYS

* gay bathhouses raids *

A German gay magaze 1929 published an acunt of a 26-year-old European visor that said eight tectiv went unrver the bathhoe, then round all patrons the ont room and beat the guts. Loted between Los Angel gay bars Harold’s and the Waldorf, Cooper’s Donuts at night beme a hub of social activy for drag queens, gays, trans people, and htlers the 1950s. While one of the first known phbacks agast police raids, likely would have been fotten if not for the fact gay lerature pneer John Rechy happened to be there as the time.

A New Year’s police raid on the Black Cat, a gay bay the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angel, rulted the beatgs of more than a dozen people; two men were arrted for the crime of kissg and a bartenr suffered a ptured spleen. California lawmakers 1976 passed a nsentg adults law part to stop persecutn of gays through bathhoe raids, but that didn’t stop San Francis ps om raidg Liberty Baths an apparent tt of that law, acrdg to A History of Bathho. The owner of the Streatham tablishment would end up fed 5, 000 pounds and sentenced to six months jail, somethg Gay News at the time would label a “dranian sentence.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office nducted jot raids of Florida gay bars Club 21 and Copa on May 3, 1991, and the cints would play a role Sheriff Nick Navarro eventually losg reelectn, ironilly after nductg such raids an apparent publicy stunt. Byron Jon, who led a group om the Gay and Lbian Youth Group Club 21 the eveng of the raid, wrote later The Advote that hundreds were taed by police though only six were arrted. Three years after Cha crimalized homosexualy, police Guangzhou July 2000 raid the Junjie men’s health and bety center and arrted 37 men on charg of prostutn.

GAY BATH HOE OWNER, THREE OTHERS ARRTED

Twenty years after officers raid a gay bathhoe, the Calgary Police Service and members of s genr and sexual diversy advisory mtee are offerg help to expunge the rerds of several bathhoe patrons a bid to foster renciliatn. * gay bathhouses raids *

Montreal police raid gay strip bar Taboo on May 10, 2003, then publicly suggted they were specifilly raidg the tablishment bee of the potential for olr men preyg on young dancers. Unr the guise of dog public health spectns, thori Haton, Canada, on Augt 4, 2004, arrted two patrons for cency and sparked outrage the Canadian gay muny. Police later admted learng gay activi happened at the tablishment thanks to spottg ments on a gay cisg webse, spe ially suggtg they had no ia the bs was a bathhoe.

Durg what AIDS activist Wan Yahai suggted was a crackdown on gays Beijg, the Dtatn got closed March 9, 2008, by police supposedly for playg mic too loud and hostg too large a crowd, acrdg to an article the Shangaiist. Later that month, 10 police rs rolled to Oasis, the most popular gay bathhoe Beijg, and ps round up more than 70 people, cludg staff and patrons, durg a March 20 raid. When the Atlanta Police’s “Red Dog” un raid gay bar the Eagle September 2009, patrons reported beg forced onto the ground while officers ed homophobic slurs and nducted background checks on everybody there.

Police arrted 40 people standg outsi popular Mosw gay bar Central Statn December 2013, shortly after a number of disput between the bar owner and buildg landlords, acrdg to The Mosw Tim. After a July 6, 2014, raid which around 65 gay people were round up and taken to the police statn, Nairobi news outlet Ghafla reported that the arrts were ma simply bee the patrons were homosexual. Police apparently regularly me to mand the IDs of guts, then end up arrtg Mlims to charge them not wh any homosexualy-related crime but wh the illegal nsumptn of alhol, a vlatn of Sharia law largely unenforced straight nightclubs.

CALGARY POLICE OFFER RENCILIATN FOR 2002 GAY BATHHOE RAID

On Feb. 4, 1981, the Toronto gay muny was somewhat actured, wh many disparate voic and factns offerg opns on how to advance their issu. But the next night — when police raid four bathho — marked a pivotal moment galvanizg the muny. * gay bathhouses raids *

The rmatn gathered actually led to a wir vtigatn of homosexualy nearby ci, which rulted 20 arrts, cludg two ps on the Baker Street beat, acrdg to Allan Bebe's A History of Bathho. Turkish Baths (1929)Moral reformers New York Cy raised polil prsure on police the 1920s to shut down the Lafayette Brothers' Turkish Baths, a popular spot for gay men livg and visg the cy.

Cooper's Donuts (1959)Loted between Los Angel gay bars Harold's and the Waldorf, Cooper's Donuts at night beme a hub of social activy for drag queens, gays, trans people, and htlers the 1950s. Black Cat (1967)A New Year's police raid on the Black Cat, a gay bay the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angel, rulted the beatgs of more than a dozen people; two men were arrted for the crime of kissg and a bartenr suffered a ptured spleen.

TORONTO BATHHOE RAIDS: HOW THE ARRTS GALVANIZED THE GAY MUNY

Gay men are nothg if not termed. Especially when to gettg laid. From bathho to public parks to wash rooms to Grdr, we've always * gay bathhouses raids *

Liberty Baths (1978)California lawmakers 1976 passed a nsentg adults law part to stop persecutn of gays through bathhoe raids, but that didn't stop San Francis ps om raidg Liberty Baths an apparent tt of that law, acrdg to A History of Bathho.

The owner of the Streatham tablishment would end up fed 5, 000 pounds and sentenced to six months jail, somethg Gay News at the time would label a "dranian sentence.

Copa and Club 21 (1991)The Broward County Sheriff's Office nducted jot raids of Florida gay bars Club 21 and Copa on May 3, 1991, and the cints would play a role Sheriff Nick Navarro eventually losg reelectn, ironilly after nductg such raids an apparent publicy stunt. Junjie (2000)Three years after Cha crimalized homosexualy, police Guangzhou July 2000 raid the Junjie men's health and bety center and arrted 37 men on charg of prostutn.

BATHHO AND BEYOND: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GAY CISG

We take a look at the long, lourful history of gay bathho, takg you om their origs 1492 right up to the prent day. * gay bathhouses raids *

Taboo (2003)Montreal police raid gay strip bar Taboo on May 10, 2003, then publicly suggted they were specifilly raidg the tablishment bee of the potential for olr men preyg on young dancers. Haton's Warehoe Spa and Bath (2004)Unr the guise of dog public health spectns, thori Haton, Canada, on Augt 4, 2004, arrted two patrons for cency and sparked outrage the Canadian gay muny. Dtatn and Oasis (2008)Durg what AIDS activist Wan Yahai suggted was a crackdown on gays Beijg, the Dtatn got closed March 9, 2008, by police supposedly for playg mic too loud and hostg too large a crowd, acrdg to an article the Shangaiist.

The Eagle (2009)When the Atlanta Police's "Red Dog" un raid gay bar the Eagle September 2009, patrons reported beg forced onto the ground while officers ed homophobic slurs and nducted background checks on everybody there.

Central Statn (2013)Police arrted 40 people standg outsi popular Mosw gay bar Central Statn December 2013, shortly after a number of disput between the bar owner and buildg landlords, acrdg to The Mosw Tim. And though I was never an aficnado of the Bathhoe scene, the gay history buff me cid to do some rearch and even I was a b surprised by the strong historil and social signifince bathho have had on the gay muny Ameri.

THE LOURFUL, STICKY HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO: FROM 15TH CENTURY SNDAL TO MORN STAPLE

Bathho Amerin ci first beme popular wh the general public the late 19th and early 20th centuri due to a lack of tenement plumbg and bathg facili, but would rema popular wh gay men long after bathtubs beme standard apartment featur.

'THE CANADIAN STONEWALL': TORONTO POLICE 'EXPRS S REGRET' FOR GAY BATHHOE RAIDS

The Everard NYC (which long ago received the nickname – The Everhard) was nverted om a church to a bathhoe 1888 and was known to have a gay clientele even before the roarg 1920’s. In addn to providg spac for gay men to meet and have sex, the baths also provid a type of muny space and meetg place for gay artists and tellectuals durg a time that gay sex was still punishable by law. Bathho would ntue to be one of the most popular plac for gay men to ngregate well after the morn gay rights movement began the late 1960’s wh the Stonewall rts.

And though gay bathho saw a cle populary begng the 1980’s wh the advent of the AIDS epimic, many gay bathho ntue to fill the same functn they always have: a safe place to be gay and have gay sex. That eveng two police agents vertly entered the Ariston bathhoe to set the stage for the first documented anti-gay police raid on an Amerin tablishment. 12 of the 16 men went to trial, and the transcripts portray a vivid portra of homophobia, but also reveal the il absurdy of a society so eply unfortable wh homosexualy yet wantg such exact, specific tails of what occurred.

The raids marked a turng pot for Toronto’s gay muny, as the protts that followed dited they would no longer endure rogatory treatment om the police, media and the public.

TORONTO POLICE RAID GAY BATHHO SUMMARY

The Augt 1977 sexual asslt and murr of shohe boy Emanuel Jaqu by several men a Yonge Street massage parlour provoked sensatnal media verage that emphasized the participatn of gay men. In the March 1979 edn of the Metropolan Toronto Police Associatn newsletter, staff sergeant Tom Moclair’s say “The Homosexual Fad” portrayed gay men as arrogant, ant viants who reced nocent children to their liftyle.

view was found among many officers by law stunt and journalist Arnold Bner while pilg a study for the cy on police relatns wh the gay muny followg the raids. man as an unntrollable sexual liberte who ms crim of lt, prostut himself, who is pable of fectg those wh whom he ntact wh by spreadg homosexualy or venereal disease. The bathhoe raids on 5 Febary 1981 proved a turng pot relatns between Toronto police and the cy's gay muny (photo by Frank Lennon, urty Toronto Star).

As prottors chanted msag such as “gay rights unt, ” a small group of mostly teenaged unter-prottors yelled back homophobic obsceni and unsuccsfully attempted to block Universy Avenue.

Calgary bathhoe raid angers gays - The Globe and Mail

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