Police bathhouse raid apology prompts mixed feelings in Toronto LGBT community

When RonRosenesfirst heard about the fatal mass shooting at Orlando's gay nightclub Pulse, his mind flashed immediately back to 1981, when he and hundreds of other gay men in Toronto bathhouses found themselves rounded up and arrested by police.

"It was incredibly scary,"Rosenestold CBC News. "We thought this was a safe place just like theLGBTpeople in Orlando thought that they were in safe place."

On Tuesday, 35 years after that frightening night, Chief Mark Saunders announced that the Toronto Police Servicewould apologize for the raids that saw 160 officers arrest 286 menand sparked a firestorm of protests, leaving a gaping wound between police and theLGBTcommunity that hasyet to fully heal.

• Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders to apologize for 1981 bathhouse raids
• Aftermath of the Toronto bathhouse raids

But for those who were arrested that night and in the nights that followed, the raids left a difficult legacy and the prospect of an apology is bittersweet.

John Brodhagen is the general manager of Steamworks Baths and came out shortly after the mass arrests.

"Thirty-five years is a long time coming," Brodhagen told CBC News on hearing that an apology was on its way.

He and others say it was largely because of the raids thatLGBTissues were catapulted onto the public stage.

"If it weren't for the raids, Pride wouldn't have happened It was a cry for what police had done," he said.

Torontonian Jack Budd shares those mixed feelings.

"That's when people reacted and went out on the streets. It started the gay movement in Toronto," he said.

"It's significant in its own way but it's too little too late, I think," Budd said of the anticipated apology.

David Rodrigues doesn't remember the raids himself. At 34, he was born just one year after they took place.

"I think it's a huge deal," he said of the apology. "I think it will strengthen ties with the community and police."

As forRosenes, who once found himself in a courtroom on charges related to being in a bathhouse, he's now been invited to the police's Pride reception, which will follow Wednesday's apology.

He says an apology is an important first step, but much work remains in the battle forLGBTrights.

"I think the apology is a good start but we need to make sure in the law we are getting rid of a lot of leftover homophobic legislation."