One of the 12 men arrested in two separate raids on the Bijou porn theatre doesn’t do it in parks because he never thought them safe.
He doesn’t even usually go to bars.
“How much safer can you get?” he asks. “You pay money to get in. I thought it was a private club.
“Getting a criminal record scares me. I’ve been at my job 27 years.”
The man asked not to be identified. Although he’s not closeted, he says he doesn’t flaunt his sexuality.
And he’ll plead not guilty to an indecency charge. He also hopes all the men who were arrested can get together and hire a single lawyer for the group. There is strength in numbers, he says.
Of the plainclothes police at the Bijou: “They were very low-key.” One even asked if there was an “s” in “indecency” as he was writing out a summons.
“They must have walked around the whole place. They came in to pick us off. Just picked [men] at random. Others were doing worse than me, they just let them go.
“There was just a guy playing with my nipples.”
He says the worst part was not knowing what to do. “I didn’t know who to call.
“The timing is so bad,” he adds. “There’s a lot of tourists in town. It’s bad [public relations] for the city.
If you were arrested and want to organize a group defence, contact Xtra at (416) 925-6665 ext 231; we’ll get everyone in touch with each other.
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