Skip to main content

Artifact 6: Movement - The S.S. Pisces

This is a photograph of the S.S. Pisces II, a raft launched by a group of gay and lesbian Edmontonians at the August 1981 Heritage Days Raft Race. Four months after the raid on Pisces Health Spa, the momentum carrying the resistance to the charges laid against the found-ins was still going strong, as seen by this raft. Sailing on the currents of the North Saskatchewan river, the S.S. Pisces was proudly displayed to all Edmontonians, which is especially significant given the understandably down-low nature of the Health Spa itself. While the right to choose when or if to display one’s sexuality is deeply important—a right stripped from those arrested in bathhouse raids—there is something to be said about the bravery it took to so publicly and proudly declare the Pisces as gay.

-------------------------

Artifact Citation: S.S. Pisces II Raft at the Heritage Days Raft Race, August 1981. Photograph. Accessed from Edmonton Queer History Project, December 1 2024. https://www.edmontonqueerhistoryproject.ca/pisces-health-spa?itemId=5qltfvlrepnl2eq6t68pb35wc6fmdb.

Caption Bibliography:

  1. Edmonton Queer History Project. "Pride Timeline 1980-1999." https://www.edmontonqueerhistoryproject.ca/1980-1999.
  2. Blatchford, Christie. “’Furious’ homosexuals to blitz provincial candidates.” Toronto Star, February 24, 1981. https://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=https://www. proquest.com/newspapers/page-a7/docview/1404737788/se-2?accountid=14474.
  3. The Globe and Mail. “Metro won’t support probe on bathhouse raids.” February 11, 1981. https://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/metro-wont-support-probe-on-bathhouse-raids/docview/1143005278/se-2?accountid=14474.
Artifact 6: Movement - The S.S. Pisces