February 2021 marks the fortieth anniversary of the “Operation Soap” raids in Toronto which saw nearly 300 members of the LGBTQ population arrested in one night. This sweeping action served to galvanize the city’s gay community and would set in motion major social change that swept beyond the downtown core and served as a key inspiration for the gay pride movement across Canada.

On February 15, 1981, RFF founder and Executive Director Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, then the Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, began a hunger strike to demand an investigation of the police force and in protest of the raids and their implications on the rights and privacy of those affected.

“People who were arrested in bathhouses or other situations - their names would be published in the newspapers. And often, people would be fired from their jobs or they would be kicked out of their families … or worse yet, commit suicide.”

… Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes on the impetus for his peaceful protest action.

In the days and weeks that followed, protest marches and mass rallies were held in the city as Rev. Hawkes continued his hunger strike.

After twenty-five days, Rev. Hawkes ended his fast when Toronto City Council formally requested an investigation into the raids and into the city’s relationship with its LGBTQ community.

Forty years later, considerable steps have been taken to improve and foster the relationship between the city, law enforcement, and the LGBTQ community. Our work continues today to ensure the progress made is ongoing and evolves to reflect the intersectionality of discrimination and persecution based on sexual identity, race, gender, and faith, both here in Toronto, across Canada, and throughout the world.