John
Damien (1933 – November 18, 1986) worked in racing for twenty years and had
been employed by the Commission for five years. At the time of his dismissal
Damien held the position of Commission Racing Steward, one of three top racing
judges in Ontario.
John Damien was a conservative Ontario racetrack official who was living the good life (a boyfriend Brian, a penthouse apartment, a late model car, custom-tailored suits, an $1,100 gold watch and two diamond rings worth $900 and $1,200 respectively) when on Feb 6, 1975, at 3 pm, that good life was taken away from him. He was in the office of PC Williams, personal adviser for the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations of Ontario, when Williams handed him a letter from the Ontario Racing Commission. The letter informed Damien that he would not be reappointed for the upcoming racing season. If he willingly resigned, Williams added, the Racing Commission would give him a letter of recommendation and the sum of $1,200. When pressed by Damien, Williams stated that “The Ontario Jockey Club does not want you in the stands this year… We are concerned that you could be blackmailed… or that you could favour certain… people.” Was it because he was a homosexual, asked Damien. “Yes. I am prepared to raise the financial settlement to $1,700,” was the reply. Damien refused: “I won’t resign. I’ve done nothing wrong. Lots of gay people work for the government and sex doesn’t interfere with their work, or with mine… I will never resign.” “Why don’t you sleep on it, John? Things may look different in the morning,” replied Williams.
On February 7, 1975, in Toronto Damien was officially fired by the Ontario Racing Commission because he was gay. The Commission was an independent agency of the Ontario government. On February 14 GATE (Toronto) began to campaign for Damien's reinstatement, as well as for the formation of a commission of enquiry into his firing and into the status of gay people working in positions under Ontario government jurisdiction. That evening, the Globe and Mail ran a front-page story on his dismissal. The next day, Damien’s mother suffered a massive stroke. “She told me many times,” Damien later said, “that the newspaper stories had nothing to do with it. But I know deep in my heart, there is a connection.” Damien too, suffered. He lost weight. He began to smoke 50 cigarettes a day. He developed a nervous twitch on the left side of his face. Then, as he waited for the Ontario Human Rights Commission to hear his submission, his money ran out. He moved from his penthouse to a bachelor apartment, gave up his car and sold his jewelry and furniture. The problem was that the Human Rights Commission did not want to hear his case or, as a clerk put it to Damien, “You can’t complain. The code doesn’t cover you. Sex refers to gender, not sexual orientation.”
The Committee to Defend John Damien was established February 22, with Christine Bearchell as chairperson. The Damien case was to become one of the most prominent gay civil rights cases in Canadian history. After much legal wrangling the case remained partially unresolved when Damien died in Windsor of pancreatic cancer on December 24, 1986. His suit for wrongful dismissal against the Ontario Racing Commission was settled in 1986; Damien received a year's wages plus interest, about $50,000. A second suit, for loss of income, had been placed against the estate of Thoreau Willard O'Mulvenny, a Fort Erie racetrack doctor who had informed the Ontario Jockey Club in 1974 that Damien was a homosexual. The case had not yet been heard when Damien died.
Damien proved that blatant discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation could no longer be tolerated in Canadian society and that court action in such cases would (eventually) succeed. In 1998, community activist Barry Deeprose gave an address at the opening of the Ottawa Pride campaign in which he made passing reference to the subject of this month’s column: “I continue to be inspired by the almost-forgotten example of John Damien. He was a racing steward in Toronto, a small, quiet man who loved his work. He was asked to resign in 1975… When he refused, he was immediately fired. John complained to the courts and fought for 10 years… John Damien was a hero, particularly in those days.”
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