Research Project
September 14 marks the day the The Pussy Palace, Toronto’s first women and transgender bathhouse, opened in 1998. However, two years later in 2000 it also marked the first – and last – police raid of a bathhouse in Toronto.
The Pussy Palace was the first of its kind in Toronto, as it not only catered to women and transgender folk of all sexualities, but also served as a place for women to openly explore their identities. On September 14, 2000, the club was celebrating its two year anniversary with a huge party filled with socializing, drinking, and, of course, sex. Named the “2000 pussies” party for the anniversary, the festivities were in full swing until two undercover women cops entered the venue. They were followed by five plain-clothes policemen who entered under the guise of searching for liquor license violations. However, many knew that their real intent was to find violation of anti-prostitution laws, of which there were none. During the search the officers also did not warn the attendees of their presence, behaved inappropriately towards them as many were naked or semi-naked, and threatened to charge them with obstruction if they warned other people in the club.
Two volunteers were charged with liquor licence violations as a result of the raid. But what was most amazing about the aftermath from this particular show of disrespect against the Gender, Sexuality, and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) community was the speed at which action was taken to fight back. The Women’s Bathhouse Committee and the GSRD community alike rallied together with marches to the police headquarters (the first happening minutes after a September 21, 2000 community forum), fundraising for legal and support costs, and protests like the “panty picket” that saw over 100 people shake their underwear at the police.
On January 31, 2002, the charges were dropped, the judge agreeing that the raid infringed on constitutional rights around privacy. A class-action lawsuit was also filed by the Women’s Bathhouse Committee against the Toronto police and was settled in 2005, granting them $350,000 that went towards legal fees and charity. This was the last raid of a bathhouse in Toronto following a long history of police raids on gay male bathhouses, the lot of them starting in 1981.
The events and subsequent action around that day are still used as examples and warning to how oppressive forces like the police can harm marginalized communities. Just last year one of the cops who participated in the raid was promoted as Toronto’s new chief of police, which stirred up debate and reinforced the critical eye on the police’s treatment of GSRD folks.
It also spurred the Pussy Palace Oral History Project, which is run by the LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory and aims to “historicize the event within the longer history of Toronto police hostility towards non-normative sexuality.” They gathered most of their research and oral testimony and are currently in the process of creating an immersive digital exhibit, which will be available online. For now, they have posted various audio and visual research for folks to get a glimpse at how the Pussy Palace was on that night, and its legacy beyond.
Written by: Madeleine Chan
