February 7 Toronto John Damien was […]

When

1975-02-07

Description

February 7 Toronto John Damien was officially fired by the Ontario Racing Commission because he was gay. The Commission was an independent agency of the Ontario government. Damien had 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. 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. 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. (see also February 22, March 14, 21, May 6, 10, 11, 13, 24-25, June 24, June 28-July 1, August 31, September, September 13, October, October 23, 24, 30, and December 5,1975.)

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