22, 1977, Montreal police raided Truxx and Le Mystique, two gay bars on Stanley St. This resistance to the Olympic ‘cleanup’ set the stage for the massive protest which would occur in 1977. It was organized by CHAR and protested pre-Olympic cleanup raids. On Jun 19, more than 300 queers and supporters joined in one of the largest demonstrations up to that point. 'In late May and early June, all the baths in Montreal were closed…For a lot of men in Montreal, their first experience of the great Olympic ‘clean-up’ was the sight of a policeman’s axe crashing through the door of their room at the baths.' The Body PoliticĪn organization called the Comité homosexuel antirépression/Gay Coalition against Repression (CHAR) was set up with representatives from various Montreal gay groups bringing together French and English-speaking activists, lesbians and gay men, with sections of the left and the feminist movements. From Feb 1975 to June 1976, Police raids ramp up at Club Baths, Neptune Sauna and across gay and lesbian bars in Montreal's Stanley Street gay village, this event was widely perceived as mayor Jean Drapeau's attempts to 'clean up' the city in advance of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
