A rare glimpse into Edmonton's past & the infamous Pisces Bathhouse raid, which occurred at 2am on May 30, 1981

Below are images of the actual police reports detailing the undercover investigation.

The police would go on to arrest 56 men as "found ins." #yeg #history #LGBTQ

In the police report, an undercover officer wrote how the front desk attendant received an obscene phone call and described, he "appeared rather distressed and he stated, 'There are limits to being queer.'"

This was 1981 in Alberta.

The Pisces Bathhouse raids and the blatant police persecution would turn into one of the most pivotal moments of Edmonton's queer community.

The raid included 54 members of the Edmonton Police Service and RCMP.

For the first time, the LGBTQ community organized and fought back.

The Privacy Defence Committee of Edmonton was formed in response to the raid to help pay for legal expenses and a rally was held outside of city hall to protest the police raid. The raid was widely seen as an attack on gays.

CTV News published the list of names of the men arrested on television and in the trial that followed the Crown Prosecutor described the spa as a place for "depraved" and "pathetic individuals." The Provincial Court Judge later stated "you're criminals, all of you."

In July 1981, the Privacy Defence Committee entered in the Klondike bathtub races with an entry called the "S.S. Pisces II," which sailed a pink triangle down the North Saskatchewan in an act of open defiance.

The community would not be invisible any longer & began to fight back