Toronto Pride, Orange Order and Prohibition History

Three movements left a documented mark on Toronto’s public life: the Orange Order, which held a place in city government from about 1850 to 1950, Ontario’s alcohol prohibition under the Ontario Temperance Act from 1916 to 1927, and the gay liberation movement, whose protests after the police bathhouse raids of February 5, 1981, fed into the Pride celebrations. A common claim that Toronto held its first Pride march in 1971 does not match the archival record, which is explained below.

Each section keeps to what archives and reference works document. Where sources disagree, both versions are given. For the wider story of the city, see the overview of Toronto history.

Timeline

1830: Ogle R. Gowan founds the first Grand Lodge of the Orange Order in British North America at Brockville.
1850 to 1950: Almost every Toronto mayor is a member of the Orange Order, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia.
1916: Ontario passes the Ontario Temperance Act, banning the sale of alcohol.
1924: Ontario voters keep prohibition in a referendum.
1927: The Liquor Control Act ends the Ontario Temperance Act and creates the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
August 1, 1971: A gay picnic is held at Hanlan’s Point, organized by the Community Homophile Association of Toronto and Toronto Gay Action, according to The ArQuives.
August 28, 1971: The We Demand rally takes place on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, organized by Toronto Gay Action.
1972: A Toronto gay pride week includes a march; the ArQuives puts about 300 people on University Avenue.
February 5, 1981: Police raid four Toronto bathhouses in Operation Soap.

Toronto Pride: what the record shows

The ArQuives traces Toronto’s Pride tradition to a picnic at Hanlan’s Point on the Toronto Islands on August 1, 1971, organized by the Community Homophile Association of Toronto and Toronto Gay Action. Pride Toronto’s own history page agrees on the August 1, 1971 “Gay Day Picnic,” which it says raised funds to send activists to Ottawa, but it also mentions a 1970 picnic by early groups including the University of Toronto Homophile Association and Toronto Gay Action Now, with no exact date. The sources therefore disagree on which picnic counts as the first.

The famous 1971 protest was not held in Toronto. On August 28, 1971, about 200 people gathered in the rain on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the We Demand rally. Toronto Gay Action, a group that grew out of the Community Homophile Association of Toronto, organized it. A smaller action of about 20 people took place in Vancouver the same day. The ArQuives exhibit calls it the first recorded political action by queer activists in Canada.

The ArQuives describes a 1972 pride week held by the Community Homophile Association of Toronto, with panel discussions, an art exhibit, and dances, another picnic, and a small unsanctioned march of about 300 people up University Avenue. Jearld Moldenhauer recalled unmarked police cars with cameras taking pictures of the marchers. The ArQuives adds that academics, scholars, and activists still debate the date of the first official Pride, so it names no single first. Pride Toronto’s history page dates the second annual picnic to July 9, 1972, as part of the first Gay Pride Week, and describes a march to Queen’s Park where activists presented a brief to the Ontario government; it does not mention University Avenue.

The 1981 bathhouse raids

On February 5, 1981, Toronto police raided four bathhouses over about three hours: the Richmond Street Health Emporium, The Club, The Romans II Health and Recreation Spa, and The Barracks. The operation, called Operation Soap, led to 306 charges according to The ArQuives: 286 patrons charged as found-ins and 20 managers and owners charged as keepers. The ArQuives cites about 150 officers, from a March 1981 newspaper headline.

The next day, February 6, about 3,000 people marched to Toronto Police 52 Division and then to Queen’s Park. The ArQuives records that across Operation Soap and two smaller raids that year, 304 people were charged as found-ins. One received a criminal record and 36 received absolute or conditional discharges. Among those who pleaded not guilty, 94 percent were acquitted. Attorney General Roy McMurtry refused to hold anyone accountable for the violence, and the raids were estimated to have cost taxpayers up to $5 million by March 1982. Pride Toronto’s history page records that Lesbian and Gay Pride Day Toronto was incorporated that year and that about 1,500 people celebrated at Grange Park on June 28, 1981, while the ArQuives mentions a 1981 Pride march from Grange Park to Queen Street and then to Yonge Street. None of the sources read ties the first Toronto Pride to the raids, and none names 1981 as the first parade. Related coverage of police history is in the article on Toronto police and fire services.

The Orange Order in Toronto

The Canadian Encyclopedia says the Order was founded in Ulster in 1795, and that Ogle R. Gowan founded its first Grand Lodge of British North America on January 1, 1830, in Brockville, Upper Canada. The Encyclopedia gives national membership of about 14,000 in 1834 and 60,000 in 1900, with a peak near 100,000 around 1920.

The same entry says almost every Toronto mayor between 1850 and 1950 was an Orangeman, and that Toronto was sometimes called the Belfast of Canada. The Canadian Orange Historical Site, a publication of the Order’s own heritage group, notes that accounts disagree on the exact count: one names at least 17 mayors, another 20 of the 23 men who held the office during the nineteenth century, and no reconciled list has been published. Because that site is written by members of the Order, its framing deserves caution. The Order’s July 12 parades commemorate the Battle of the Boyne of 1690, and one of its best-known riots took place in Toronto in 1875. The Encyclopedia says membership has declined to about 5,000 to 6,000 people.

Prohibition in Ontario, 1916 to 1927

According to Wikipedia’s article on the Act, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario unanimously passed the Ontario Temperance Act in 1916, when William Hearst was premier. The article gives only the year, and the in-force date is not stated in the text read here. Ontario doctors wrote more than 650,000 alcohol prescriptions in 1920, and in 1921 the province banned alcohol imports. A provincial referendum in 1919 supported the sales ban by a majority of about 400,000 votes, support slipped slightly in 1921, and a referendum in 1924 kept the Act by 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent.

G. Howard Ferguson’s Conservatives won the 1926 election after promising to introduce liquor sales, and the Liquor Control Act of 1927 repealed prohibition and created the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. TVO gives June 1, 1927, as the LCBO’s first day of business. Wikipedia says drinking in public establishments stayed illegal for seven years after 1927 and that the Junction neighborhood in west Toronto stayed dry under local option until 2000. The history of the Gooderham and Worts distillery is covered in the article on the Distillery District. Stories of speakeasies and bootlegging in the old merged article could not be verified and are omitted.

Frequently asked questions

When was the first Pride march in Toronto?

The ArQuives describes a march of about 300 people up University Avenue during a 1972 pride week and notes that the date of the first Pride is debated. The 1971 We Demand rally was held in Ottawa.

What happened in the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids?

Police raided four bathhouses on February 5, 1981, and laid 306 charges. About 3,000 people marched in protest the next day.

Was every Toronto mayor an Orangeman?

Not every one. The Canadian Encyclopedia says almost every mayor between 1850 and 1950 was, and the Canadian Orange Historical Site says accounts disagree on the exact count.

When did Prohibition end in Ontario?

In 1927, when the Liquor Control Act repealed the Ontario Temperance Act and created the LCBO, which opened its first stores on June 1, 1927, according to TVO.

Last verified: October 2026

Sources

The ArQuives, “Operation Soap” (February 5, 1981 raids, charges, protest, outcomes, cost).
The ArQuives, “Pride before Pride” (1971 Hanlan’s Point picnic, 1972 march, debate over the first Pride).
The ArQuives, “1971 We Demand March”, digital exhibition (Ottawa rally, Vancouver action).
Pride Toronto, history and timeline page (1970 and 1971 picnics, 1972 Pride Week, 1981 Pride Day).
“Orange Order,” The Canadian Encyclopedia (founding, membership, Toronto mayors, 1875 riot).
Canadian Orange Historical Site, “Orange Order in Ontario” (a site run by Order members; used for the disputed count of mayors and Toronto lodges).
“Ontario Temperance Act,” Wikipedia (secondary: 1916 Act, referendums, 1927 repeal; it cites Larry Johnston, Referendums in Ontario, 2007, and Gerald Hallowell’s thesis).
“Buzzkillers: a brief history of the LCBO,” TVO (first day of LCBO business, June 1, 1927).

Cite this page

APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 25). Pride, the Orange Order, and Prohibition in Toronto. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-pride-parade-a-journey-through-history-celebration-and-activism

MLA: “Pride, the Orange Order, and Prohibition in Toronto.” History of Toronto, 25 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-pride-parade-a-journey-through-history-celebration-and-activism. Accessed .

Chicago: History of Toronto. “Pride, the Orange Order, and Prohibition in Toronto.” Last modified October 25, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-pride-parade-a-journey-through-history-celebration-and-activism.

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