In the 1800s, police in Paris raided a bathhouse and arrested six.Īs institutions, bathhouses gained popularity in the last century, in part due to growing gay populations lacking places where they could publicly gather. In the late 1400s, police in Florence, Italy, monitored homosexual activity and “suspect boys” at bathhouses. The tradition of gay male bathing spaces dates back to the 15th century - and more gender-neutral bathing is recorded as early as 6 BC. This marked the first recorded time that police raided a gay bathhouse in America, but it certainly wasn’t the last. Eleven people were charged with felonies, and 37 were eventually arrested. In later testimony, police reported witnessing anal sex. Infiltrating the establishment, they were aghast.
Police had been spying on the men at The Ariston Hotel Baths for days.
