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So in March 2023(?), Tumblr user fleshdyke (https://web.archive.org/web/20230913091647/https://www.tumblr.com/fleshdyke/711416276490321921/thats-because-i-lied-about-this) claimed that public bathrooms are free in Canada because "two gay men got arrested for fucking in a public bathroom but they argued since you had to pay for it it was a hotel and it was fine". User hieronymus-botch called them on this, and fleshdyke admitted they made it up. In March 2025, Mastodon user @TicklishHoneyBee repeated the false claim with no source.

You may be interested in learning some real history about Canada's indecency laws against homosexuality, and about public toilets!

Hamish Copley writes about how Canada got its "gross indecency" law prohibiting gay male sex: https://thedrummersrevenge.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/the-gross-indecenency-law-in-canada/
And about the first men jailed for "gross indecency" between consenting adults (probably in public): https://thedrummersrevenge.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/the-first-police-raid/

Read more about the criminalization of homosexuality (and eventual decriminalization) in the Canadian Encyclopedia: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-1969-amendment-and-the-de-criminalization-of-homosexuality

Chris Bateman writes about the history of public toilets in Toronto, including fearmongering about gay men using them, for Spacing Magazine: https://spacing.ca/toronto/2014/07/09/happened-public-washrooms-toronto/

See also this excerpt (re: Toronto) from Lezlie Lowe's book about the dismal state of public toilets, here: https://nowtoronto.com/culture/rise-and-fall-of-public-toilets-in-toronto/

There's currently a design contest going for an "innovative" new public toilet, hopefully to be installed in my very own neighbourhood of South Parkdale: https://www.frequencynews.ca/news/toronto-advocacy-group-will-pay-you-1500-to-design-a-new-public-washroom/

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