Edited by Ashley Goodfellow Craig
York University student Matteo Cerilli knew immediately what he wanted to do when he saw the list of DARE (Dean's Award for Research Excellence) research projects.
Drawn to a project led by Assistant Professor Tom Hooper, in the Department of Equity Studies, investigating protests that followed the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids, Cerilli wanted to dig deeper into what happened after 150 police officers raided four gay bathhouses and arrested 186 men.
Cerilli’s research concentrated on the aftermath. The night following the raids, 3,000 gay people and their allies marched down Yonge Street to Queen’s Park, chanting “enough is enough.” Two weeks later, 4,000 people rallied at Queen’s Park demanding justice and an end to police violence. Speakers included feminists, labour representatives, immigrants, Black activists and other representatives of Toronto’s cultural mosaic.
“My role in the research project was to dig up all the records of these solidarities to prove that Toronto has always known that our struggles are connected, especially in a world where we’re pitted against each other,” said Cerilli, who just finished his degree in professional writing and creative writing, a double major, when he began his DARE research project.
(Read the full article on YFile.)