'There is this blemish': Man charged in bathhouse raid calls expungement move lacking

The federal government announced this week that it would expunge the records of those arrested over several so-called 'indecency' offences, particularly charges largely directed at the LGBTQ community and women. But some say the move falls short.

Ron Rosenes remembers Toronto police officers knocking on the door of his room at a downtown bathhouse on Feb. 5, 1981, during co-ordinated raids that targeted four gay clubs in the city that night.

Officers arrested and charged Rosenes and almost 300 other men with being in "a common bawdy house" as part of Operation Soap, which was among the largest mass police raids in Canadian history.

"It was the first time in my life when the state or the police arm of the state confronted me and charged me with doing something in a space that I believed to have been a safe place for gay men to gather," Rosenes said in a phone interview.

"There is this blemish, if you will, on my life, and in police records, for a crime that for which I was unjustly charged."

The federal government announced this week that it would expunge the records of those arrested over several so-called "indecency" offences, particularly charges largely directed at the LGBTQ community and women. But Rosenes said the move falls short and may not apply to him.

Rosenes and a historian said in the past, gay men were systematically accused of accepting money in exchange for sex -- even when there was no evidence to support the allegation -- leaving them with charges related to commercial sex work that aren't covered by the government's recent announcement.

The night of his arrest, Rosenes, now 75, said he was in his room alone.