In 1981, Toronto police arrested nearly 300 gay men as part of a six-month undercover operation called “Operation Soap”
On Feb. 5, 1981, nearly 200 plainclothes and uniformed police officers raided four of Toronto’s gay bathhouses: the Club Baths, the Romans II Health and Recreation Spa, the Richmond Street Health Emporium and the Barracks. Armed with crowbars and hammers, Toronto police knocked down doors and walls, smashed windows and mirrors, broke into private rooms and arrested nearly 300 gay men as part of a six-month undercover operation that police called “Operation Soap.”
























