Fridae

A Toronto court on Monday heard that the charges brought against the organisers of an all-women event held at a usually all-male Club Toronto bathhouse should be dropped because the women's rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been violated.

Last September, some 300 women attended an event called the Pussy Palace when five male officers wandered through the five-story building for more than an hour, despite the fact the women were naked or topless. The event, which is in its fourth year, is part of a gay women's festival in Toronto was the first of its kind held in a year.

During the hearing, one woman testified the officers were staring at their bodies while others spoke of being "frightened," "humiliated," and "violated" at an event that was supposed to be a safe space.

Although the officers said that they were acting on a complaint, they left without incident and no charges were filed. However, the city's infuriated lesbian and gay community started protesting after the incident.

Several weeks later, police charged event organizers with liquor-related violations. In response, the community denounced the investigation as harassment, held demonstrations and press conferences, raised money to cover defense costs and compared it to the morality raids of the early eighties, when bathhouse patrons were charged criminally.

According to a local lesbian magazine, the organising committee quietly filed human rights complaints against Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, the five male police officers who entered and inspected the event and the Toronto Police Services Board in May this year.

The event's organisers, Jill Hornick and Rachel Aitcheson, are facing charges as the special-occasion liquor permit for the event was obtained in their names. They are charged under the Liquor License Act with three counts of permitting disorderly conduct, failing to provide sufficient security, permitting liquor to be removed from the premises, and serving liquor after hours.

On Tuesday?s court session, Detective Dave Wilson who led the raid told the court that he gave no thought to using female officers instead of males, in investigating the complaint and the four officers he took with him to the club were "the best-trained officers I had working for me - they were the best qualified."

The human rights complaints to the Ontario Human Rights Commission note that police are required to provide services in a way that respects and safeguards human rights including sending female police officers to the women-only event.

The trial is set to resume November 29.