Stanley-Eric-Captive-Genders-Trans-Embodiment-and-Prison-Industrial-Complex

Captive Gendershomophobic, as the suspects in the case were allegedly homosexuals. Suchmedia attention served to fuel homophobic links between queer sexualityand criminality. On October 22 of that year, there was a large raid onthe Truxx gay bar in Montreal, sparking a mass protest the following day.Anita Bryant, the “glamour queen of orange juice,” 5 headed a campaignsponsored by the religious right in the United States to snuff out therights of homosexuals. Greeted by protests, Bryant spoke at the People’sChurch in North York on January 15, 1978. On December 9, 1978, theBarracks steambath was raided by Toronto police. Twenty-three men werecharged as found-ins and five men were charged as keepers of a commonbawdy house. 6 The Ontario election was just called and the Conservativeswere trying to get a majority. John Sewell, a gay-positive mayor, and openlygay aldermanic candidate George Hislop had both just lost the election,which inspired an anti-gay backlash. 7 These, among other events acrossthe nation and south of the border, created a politically turbulent climate.Some felt that the raids were an extension of this anti-gay sentiment.Since the Conservatives wanted a majority, some have speculated that apush to “clean up” 8 the downtown would have been good publicity forthe party. Gary Kinsman, in hindsight, has suggested, “Toronto is a city ofgrowing racial, ethnic—and now—sexual minorities. The provincial andmunicipal establishment foresaw the need for a fairly militarized policeforce…to decrease the public visibility of these minorities and to keepthem contained.” 9Such pressures to “contain” these groups might have led to the authorizationof the mass raid. Such minority groups were seen as unsavory,as racist and homophobic prejudices infused with the collective psyche.These people were considered less worthy than the rest of the population.They presented a threat to the prevailing order and needed to be containedor “cleaned up.”II. Police BrutalityConsider the following testimonials shared by men who were present atthe raids:I was in a room with someone when I heard a noise. I got up to openthe door but it burst open and a guy in plain clothes pushed in andshoved me up against the wall, my face pushed hard. My nose waslacerated and bloodied. The cop kept punching me in the lower backand pulling my hair and saying, “You’re disgusting, faggot. Look at66