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Images from the raid on the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. 

Unlike other cultural groups, the LGBT community has a less visible history, resulting in the assumption that their oppression and fight for equal civil rights has not been long fought. If students learn anything about gay history, they learn about the Stonewall Riots, a demonstration by members of the queer community in response to a violent raid against patrons of the Stonewall Inn 52 years ago on this day. The event is often seen as the impetus for the larger LGBT rights and gay pride movement in the United States, which is why Pride Month is celebrated annually in June. Most Americans’ awareness of gay history beyond Stonewall is minimal though, despite the fact that evidence of gay culture has been recorded since America was a British colony. For this week’s short blog post to close out Pride Month, I wanted to explore a lesser-known moment in the gay rights movement from Theodore Roosevelt’s first term as president — the Ariston Baths Raid of 1903. 

Hundreds of sex-segregated bath houses operated in NYC at the turn of the century, spurred by the poor sanitary conditions and limited in-apartment toilets and baths in an increasingly populated city. Turkish baths’ popularity quickly spread from poor immigrants to local ethnic, fraternal, and religious organizations, and later hotels and spas, that added steam rooms and massages. 

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 27, 1903. 

For member of the gay community, these baths were seen as a safe refuge from societal scrutiny, even if their actions could still land them in jail. In the early morning hours of February 22, 1903, undercover policemen, in collaboration with the Society for the Prevention of Crime, raided the Ariston Turkish bath house on Broadway and 55th Street in New York City. Over 70 patrons were in the establishment at the time, mostly white wealthy men working as merchants, lawyers, businessmen, and other white collar jobs. While 26 men were arrested for immoral acts, only 7 were convicted, with sentences ranging from 4 to 20 years. 

Headline about the raid, Buffalo Review, February 23, 1903.  

One of the men, who gave his name as George Galbert or Calbert, was initially sentenced to 11 years in Sing Sing Prison. In People v. Galbert, the defense attorney cited the "physical impossibility" of the crime, highlighted his client's manliness while resisting arrest, and called numerous character witnesses to the stand, including the man's employer, noted Beaux Arts architect John Carrere. The man, whose real name was George Alfred Caldwell, was able to use his politically powerful Kentucky family, and network of connections, to receive preferential treatment and a reduced sentence. It was not uncommon, especially for men in positions of power, to provide false names during arrest in fear of being outed and ostracized. 

St. Louis Post Dispatch, September 29, 1903. 

While some reports indicate President Roosevelt, New York Gov. Benjamin Odell Jr., and railroad tycoon Edward Merriman interceded on Caldwell's behalf, other reports indicate Alice Roosevelt was behind the efforts to release him. Alice was friends with Caldwell's sisters Marguerite and Catherine. 

Fort Scott Daily Tribune, December 1, 1903. 

A dig through our own digital archive shows letters from Marguerite to President Theodore Roosevelt discussing the incident, with Marguerite apologizing for roping in the president, and Roosevelt in turn saying he was happy to intervene and has "nothing to regret in my actions."

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Marguerite Caldwell, December 5, 1903. 

The inner-workings of the deal that Roosevelt, Merriman, and Odell orchestrated was apparently unknown to the district attorney who prosecuted the case, and even the judge who presided. Odell gives his reasoning in a quote in the article below, saying, "[Caldwell] denied under oath that he was in any way concerned in it. In my judgement, his good charaacter alone was sufficient to overcome completely the weak case made against him..." For wealthy and connected men like Caldwell, charges were dropped, and good character and societal standing alone was enough to deem the charges against him to be false. For those without money and connections, the way they were born was considered deviant and criminal. 

New York Sun, February 27, 1904. 

The family seemed to falsely blame George's homosexuality on a drinking problem. It is not known if Roosevelt knew of Caldwell's sexuality, or believed the story that he was falsely arrested. In the months after, George was sent off to work for the Isthmian Canal Commission as a draftsman, and never returned to the U.S., dying in Panama of a liver abcess in 1911. 

Despite repeated raids, bath houses, and later YMCA baths, remained popular meeting places for the gay community throughout much of the twentieth century. More than a decade after the Ariston Baths raid, in 1916, police in New York City raided the all-male Lafayette Baths after agents from the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice filed a detailed report about "homosexual degeneracy" happening in the establishment.  Like the raids on the gay patrons of both Stonewall and Ariston, the police used violent force. The book Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World describes the raid on Lafayette Baths:

Following the raid, the manager committed suicide, and (future) noted composers George and Ira Gershwin took over operation of the popular gay bath house, operating it for a number of years. 

For more on the history of gay pride and civil rights, check out these resources from the Library of Congress.