John Damien – Prosopography

John Damien was fired by the Ontario Racing Commission in 1975 because of his sexual orientation. He filed a wrongful dismissal suit against the Commission in the Supreme Court of Ontario, and another suit for punitive damages against officials of the Ontario Jockey Club, the Commission, and the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations. The Ontario Human Rights Commission refused to investigate John Damien’s complaint on the grounds that it did not deal with cases related to sexual orientation. Damien was supported in his case by the Toronto Gay Alliance Toward Equality, the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario, and many other gay rights activists. He was also part of a delegation that presented Ontario Minister of Labour Robert Elgiew with the brief “Discrimination and the Gay Minority.” In the end, the Ontario Racing Commission paid $50,000 into a trust fund, a trade-off for Damien dropping the suit. At that time, Damien had pancreatic cancer and died shortly after.

Names	John Damien (Main) BE [n75.28]
Related Pages	John Damien on LGLC John Damien on VIAF
Birth Date	1933
Death Date	1986/12/24
Death Place	https://lglc.ca/place/WIND/
Identities	Gay BG [n75.28] Canadian BG [ISBN: 9781280114342]
Occupations	Commision Racing Steward Racing Steward [1970] - 1975/02/07 https://lglc.ca/event/n75.28 Steward 1969 - 1975/06/02 “Deliberations: Power, Interest and Gay Morality,” Body Politic, no. 103 (1984), p. 19 “Getting into Getting Sex,” Body Politic, no. 123 (1978), p. 14
Charges	502 Bad Gateway Libel Dropped - 1978/01/11 “Racing Commission offical drops libel suit against Damien,” Body Politic, no. 48 (1978), p. 14
Associated People	502 Bad Gateway (Antagonists) Personal 5/13/1975 Event: 502 Bad Gateway 502 Bad Gateway (Antagonists) Personal “Damien’s supporters go to horse races,” Body Politic, no. 50 (1979), p. 4 502 Bad Gateway ({Client}) Professional 3/21/1975 - 3/21/1975 https://lglc.ca/event/n75.48 https://lglc.ca/event/n75.28 502 Bad Gateway (Coworkers) Professional Occupational 5/13/1975 Event: 502 Bad Gateway 502 Bad Gateway (Antagonists) Personal "Damien case: minister interferes, government agencies collaborate," Body Politic, no. 24 (1976), p. 6 502 Bad Gateway (Antagonists) Personal BCFI[“Damien’s supporters go to horse races,” Body Politic, no. 50 (1979), p. 4] 502 Bad Gateway ({subjectInterview}) Professional Occupational 1/27/1977 Event: 502 Bad Gateway 502 Bad Gateway ({Employee}) Professional Occupational - 1975/02 Event: 502 Bad Gateway 502 Bad Gateway (Coworkers) Professional Occupational 1975/05/13 BCDF [n75.81] 502 Bad Gateway ({Patient}) Professional Occupational notAfter(1975) Event: 502 Bad Gateway "Ten years, and still fighting," Body Politic, no. 111 (1985), p. 7 502 Bad Gateway ({Client}) Professional Legal notAfter(1977/02/05) Event: 502 Bad Gateway 502 Bad Gateway ({Client}) Professional Legal notAfter(1977/02/05) Event: 502 Bad Gateway
Associated Places	Carriage House (Patron) https://lglc.ca/event/n73.98 “I’m Determined to Win,” Body Politic, no. 17 (1975), p. 12
Associated Organizations	Organization: 502 Bad Gateway (Subject) 1975/02/22 - 1986/12/24 BCDE [n75.28]