"The Stonewall of Canada" - Pisces Bathhouse Raid of 1981
When June rolls around, people become suddenly acutely aware of Stonewall and other staple queer history. If you haven’t been enlightened, Stonewall was a six day riot in the summer of 1969 in New York City where solicitation of gay activity and cross dressing were illegal yet gay bars were increasingly popular. Due to this illegality, bars were unable to obtain liquor licenses so they either had to operate without one or were owned by the Genovese crime family who provided said licenses. Stonewall was a bar that operated as the former and also, unlike most gay bars, allowed drag perfomers and dancing among LGBTQ patrons.
On June 28, 1969, Stonewall was raided without warning from the New York Police Department (NYPD). Stonewall had faced previous raids but most of the time they were told at least the night before. Other than the lack of warning, this raid was different in the level of violence, owners were arrested for illegal vending of alcohol; drag performers were escorted to bathrooms where their genitals were checked by female officers, if it was revealed they were cross-dressing, they were arrested; customers were hauled out roughly, being pushed and shoved around. On top of the unprecedented police violence, the week before the raid marks the death date of Judy Garland, an icon to the LGBTQ+ community in the 60s; her death is said to be another source of inspiration for the frustration at the raid from patrons. Said patrons waited outside of the establishment, angry and hungry for change.
Among the so-called “roughed-up” patrons was Storme Delarverie-- a Black butch lesbain, drag king and singer-- who, when being forced into a police van, was hit over the head. Deciding she’d had enough of the hatred, she called to the crowd still congregated outside to take action. In response, bottle caps, pebbles and whatever else they could find were thrown at the officers and the riots began. The Stonewall riots lasted six days and contrary to popular belief, were not fatal.
The protest truly was a catalyst for gay rights movements in the U.S.A. including a march that occurred exactly a year later in Manhattan, America’s first gay pride parade.
While Stonewall is one of the most important events of queer revolt in history, highlighting the importance of Black transgender women and Black members of the LGBTQ+ communty in the fight for equality, one would be remiss to pass it off as the only important queer event in history. Events in queer history form a long timeline, some could even say it goes back to the beginning of man, but there’s hardly enough time to discuss that all in one article. Rather, let’s draw some attention to the Pisces Bathhouse Raid of 1981 that occurred right here in Edmonton.
Even in 1981, 12 years after the decriminalizaition of homosexuality in 1969, the gay community in Canada was quite underground and most social gatherings were as well; these gatherings often occurred in gay bars and bathhouses. A bathhouse is a completely legal establishment that was essentially a sauna for gay men to socialize and, in the 80s, Edmonton had a few. One of these was the Pisces, at the time, it was known about by the police and government, there had even been offers of venereal disease testing by the government in the past. However, on May 30, 1981, 40 police, 6 RCMP and 2 Crown attorneys stormed the business after the EPS Morality Squard was tipped off by a gay man who claimed that batthouses were “not a good look for the community.”
Despite being a legal establishment, costumers were charged as “found-ins” of a bawdyhouse, prostitution and indecent acts. Each was photographed with a piece of paper detailing his name, job and age, they were all pictured twice-- dressed and undressed. They were scheduled for 5 AM court hearings, being taken from the bathhouse at 4 AM but, while waiting, they were denied a phone call or counsel. Overall, 56 customers and 6 administration staff were arrested; among them, 5 customers, the owner and the manager pleaded guilty initially. What the defendants didn’t know was that their testimonies were being used against others. In the end, all but one man who never showed up, were found guilty facing $250-$300 in charges and/or 30 days in jail.
Afterward, a local news station ran the story, detailing each of the men individually thereby outing a large number of the patrons. This, on top of a quote from Sargeant J.W. Torgerson of the Morality squad: “for policemem [...] to associate with members of the gay community on equal basis is worthy to note. Not only did they associate with these individuals, but also were subjected to sexual advances [...] and lastly, being recognized and treated as gay person,” detailing the undercover work done by EPS in bathhouses, became the final straw. On June 3rd, there was a march outside of City Hall, protesting the civil rights violations and waste of city money on the bathhouse raid. This event, similar to Stonewall, united the queer community in Edmonton and became a catalyst for activism. It has even been likened to Canada’s Stonewall by some, whether or not that’s true is subjective.
Overall, we see that the more united a community is, the stronger they become and that the harder oppression pushes, the harder we push back. More importantly, that queer history is huge and hugely important and that the less we talk about it, the more we forget it’s significance.
