Calgary police acknowledge bathhouse raid caused pain and trauma for LGBTQ2S+ community

The Calgary Police Service is acknowledging the pain and trauma caused by a raid at a bathhouse in the city 20 years ago and is recommitting to improving its relationship with the LGBTQ2S+ community.

Goliath’s Bathhouse opened in 1987 and was a safe place for men to meet other men and explore their sexuality.

However, that came crashing down on Dec. 12, 2002, when officers raided the place after receiving public complaints.

Seventeen men were arrested and charged, along with the owners.

Keith Purdy was working at Texas Lounge, the bar connected to the bathhouse, when the raid happened and was brought down to the police station for questioning.

“It was like the whole city was turning against us,” he told CTV News.

“It was a very stressful day. There was a lot of emotion, there was a lot of tension and there was a lot of fear brought forward by the police service at that time.”

Purdy says in the years leading up to the raid, many in the local LGBTQ2S+ community made efforts to talk to police and get them involved in events like the Pride Parade.

“(The raid) just ripped everything right apart and took us back many, many years to what we thought was over, the raids in bathhouses that happened in the ’80s throughout the country from Toronto to Vancouver,” he said.

On the 20th anniversary of the Goliath’s raid, CPS Chief Mark Neufeld joined members of the gender and sexual diversity advisory board to acknowledge the lasting impact the raid had on those arrested and on the relationship between the LGBTQ2S+ community and police.

Neufeld said while it was a legitimate investigation, police would’ve handled it differently today, and will continue to work toward reconciliation.

“Our relationship with gender and sexually diverse Calgarians has changed since 2002, but we know there is more work to do,” Neufeld said at a press conference at police headquarters on Monday.

“It’s like any relationship in our lives. If you want to have it, you invest in it, you talk about the things that are hard to talk about and you earn your trust every day. The rent is due every day.”

In 2018, Calgary police formally apologized for the raid and to those who were wrongfully impacted, but this goes a step further with an offer to remove the records of the men whose charges were stayed or withdrawn.

Mark Randall, a former Goliath’s employee and member of the gender and sexual diversity advisory board, said the work needs to start somewhere.

“There will always be residue and remnants of this action. It’s part of our history, it’s embedded in our community,” he said.

“The fact that police initiated, approached and engaged with us tells me that this is a huge step.”

Goliath’s is still around today and is the only one of its kind in Calgary.

Andrew Brassard was a bookkeeper there at the time of the raid and took over as owner 16 years ago.

“They did everything they could to shut this place down. A raid, like you think that would shut it down. They brought in fire, they brought in AHS, city licensing came in, like it was a co-ordinated effort to stamp this place out, and it’s still here and I think that’s a representation of the resilience and strength of the community,” he told CTV News.

Brassard describes the raid as “an attack on homosexuality” and said the recognition from police is a good start, but more action needs to be done.

“This is about building trust between police and the community and they’ve started to build that trust, but trust is ongoing and disappears very quickly if the right things aren’t done.”