![]() The historians were deeply drawn to learning about the nuances of such a radical moment in sexual culture and queer history that largely only comes up in the context of the raid, if at all. Putting together the archive has become far more than just recording the details of the raid-it’s a way to document 10 years of queer lesbian and trans bathhouse gatherings. ![]() However, oral historians Alisha Stranges and Elio Colavito-who have been working on the Pussy Palace Oral History Project in collaboration with the University of Toronto Mississauga’s LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory and The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives-have found that the raid is just one piece of the Pussy Palace story. This led to the committee launching a class-action lawsuit against the Toronto Police that they won in 2005. No charges were laid, but in the weeks following, two volunteers were charged with Liquor Licence Act violations these charges were later dismissed. After two undercover female cops infiltrated the space, five plainclothes male police officers then entered and searched the club. The event took place in Club Toronto, a gay men’s bathhouse, that is now Oasis Aqualounge on Mutual Street. It was organized by the Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Committee, a group that was committed to creating bathhouse parties for queer women, trans people and other non-cis men. The Pussy Palace was a queer, lesbian, bisexual and trans event that would unite queer women, including queer trans women, and others who were not cis men for a night of exploration, play and sex. On September 14, 2000, the Toronto Police raided the queer bathhouse known as the Pussy Palace during one of their biggest events, which led to years of activism by the Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Committee and attendees.
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