There is a long history of over-policing and under-protecting Toronto's LGBTQ2 community. That's what's at the heart of the request that Toronto Police withdraw their application to participate in the upcoming Pride Parade.

The community's frustration over the way that police have handled the investigation into alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur might have been the final straw, so to speak, but it's exacerbated by a decades-long struggle for fair treatment from police.

1970s Cold cases

Back in November 1978, William Duncan Robinson was found stabbed to death in his apartment. He was the 14th gay man murdered in Toronto since 1975. Including Robinson, seven of these cases remain unsolved.

At the time of the investigations, potential witnesses were reluctant to speak to police because they were concerned about how they might be treated. They were also worried if they came forward with information, they themselves might be charged with some sort of offence, or that they might be publicly outed. And members of the community had good reason worry about that.

On December 9, 1978, less than two weeks after Robinson was found dead, police raided Toronto's Barracks bathhouse. Twenty-eight men were charged under the bawdy house law for acts of indecency. The membership list for the Barracks, with over 800 names, was also seized. In the weeks following the raid, a police staff sergeant notified the employers of six men charged.

Community activists rallied around the men and formed a new organization called the Right to Privacy Committee (RTPC). This group made various attempts to call out and correct police injustice.

They demanded action in response to police's apparent indifference to routine violence toward the community on Halloween. Throughout the 1970s, the annual Halloween drag parade outside the St. Charles Tavern on Yonge Street increasingly turned violent, with homophobic crowds gathering to hurl eggs and insults. The police were often seen turning their backs to the mob, refusing to protect the people going into the bar.

Police carding was another major issue raised during this time. In April 1979, the RTPC joined forces with black community groups and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to stand against police identification practices. As part of a briefing note presented to the Metropolitan Toronto Board of Commissioners of Police, the RTPC asked, "Are the people of Toronto having their tax dollars spent on collecting and disseminating lists of gay people?"

A man with blood streaming down his face scuffles with police outside the Ontario Legislature in Toronto on Feb. 6, 1981 after about 1000 gay rights demonstrators marched there in protest of raids. (Gary Hershorn/Canadian Press)

The RTPC raised the issue of unsolved murders of gay men. They pleaded with the police commissioners to try to solve these murders as to prevent any more tragic deaths, but also pointed out the problem with asking the community for assistance. "How can homicide officers get full cooperation from the gay community when some other group of police are criminalizing and harassing gays by raiding gay steambaths?" they asked.

The police didn't listen. On the night of February 5, 1981, 200 police agents raided four gay bathhouses and arrested 306 men, all charged under the bawdy house law. The RTPC mobilized street protests and co-ordinated a legal strategy that resulted in successful defences for 87 per cent of those charged. Amid this fight against police repression, Toronto held its first official Pride Parade in June 1981. But it was not a celebration of inclusion: it was a demonstration against discrimination and police injustice.