http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/01/31/lesbian020131


Lesbian bathhouse raid charges tossed by judge
Last Updated Fri, 01 Feb 2002 09:20:55

TORONTO - The lesbian community celebrated a legal first in Toronto Thursday.

An Ontario provincial court judge ruled police were wrong to raid a party at a lesbian bathhouse in September, 2000. Organizers said the party was designed to help women explore their sexuality in a supportive setting.

Instead, male police officers broke it up and laid several charges against the organizers, accusing them of violating liquor laws.

On Thursday, Justice Peter Hryn dismissed those charges, arguing male officers should never have gone into the Pussy Palace, because it amounted to a strip search of the 350 women who were there. And that, he said, violated their Charter rights.


Organizer Rachel Aitcheson applauded the ruling. "We're happy not just for ourselves, but that the women who attended were vindicated in our behavior, in what we do," she said.

University of Toronto criminologist Mariana Valverde said the raid was an example of police attempting to use liquor laws to regulate morality, and called the ruling significant because "all of the other cases around bars and so on, have always been with men, and this is the first case that involved women."

Aitcheson said similar lesbian bathhouse parties are now being planned.
The Toronto Police Service refused to comment on the ruling.