Chief Justice Roy McMurtry, soon to retire as Chief Justice of Ontario, has been vilified for decades by the gay community for his supposed involvement in the gay bathhouse raids in Toronto in 1981. I, for one never quite believed McMurtry would have been responsible for authorizing the raids or that he was the homophone he was often made out to be. To me, McMurtry was always one of the “good guys”, in law and politics to serve his community to the best of his ability just as his brothers were serving the community in medicine and academia.
In an extraordinary interview with Kirk Makin in today’s The Globe and Mail, McMurtry expresses his regret that he was thought to be responsible for the raids.
Over the course of his 40-year career in the highest echelons of politics and the law, nothing stung Chief Justice of Ontario Roy McMurtry quite as much as being labelled a homophobe.
It happened in 1981, when 150 Toronto police officers incensed the gay community by raiding four gay bathhouses and charging 286 men as found-ins.
The raids were widely denounced as evoking memories of Nazi Germany. They led to mass marches in the streets, a sustained press furor, and a widespread belief that Chief Justice McMurtry -- who was both attorney-general and solicitor-general at the time -- had approved one of the most socially regressive acts in the province's history.
"I was the attorney-general, so I made a very convenient bogeyman," the 74-year-old chief justice said in an interview prior to his retirement next month. "I had nothing to do with the bathhouse raids, but I certainly got hung with the responsibility.
"I have to say that I kind of feel offended that anybody would feel I am in any way a homophobe," Chief Justice McMurtry said.
"The irony of the whole thing was that I had expressed my concern to the chief of police; that it really looked like we were dissolving into a police state. The whole thing looked terrible.
"Without a doubt, that was one of my most frustrating experiences."
It’s heartening that, as he prepares to leave public life, Chief Justice McMurtry is able to clarify the record Bravo, sir.
In an extraordinary interview with Kirk Makin in today’s The Globe and Mail, McMurtry expresses his regret that he was thought to be responsible for the raids.
Over the course of his 40-year career in the highest echelons of politics and the law, nothing stung Chief Justice of Ontario Roy McMurtry quite as much as being labelled a homophobe.
It happened in 1981, when 150 Toronto police officers incensed the gay community by raiding four gay bathhouses and charging 286 men as found-ins.
The raids were widely denounced as evoking memories of Nazi Germany. They led to mass marches in the streets, a sustained press furor, and a widespread belief that Chief Justice McMurtry -- who was both attorney-general and solicitor-general at the time -- had approved one of the most socially regressive acts in the province's history.
"I was the attorney-general, so I made a very convenient bogeyman," the 74-year-old chief justice said in an interview prior to his retirement next month. "I had nothing to do with the bathhouse raids, but I certainly got hung with the responsibility.
"I have to say that I kind of feel offended that anybody would feel I am in any way a homophobe," Chief Justice McMurtry said.
"The irony of the whole thing was that I had expressed my concern to the chief of police; that it really looked like we were dissolving into a police state. The whole thing looked terrible.
"Without a doubt, that was one of my most frustrating experiences."
It’s heartening that, as he prepares to leave public life, Chief Justice McMurtry is able to clarify the record Bravo, sir.
