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	Toronto Libel Dropped - 1978/01/11 “Racing Commission offical drops libel suit against Damien,” Body Politic, no. 48 (1978), p. 14
Associated People	John Mooney (Antagonists) Personal 5/13/1975 Event: May 13 Toronto The lawyer for John […] Thoreau Willard O'Mulvenny (Antagonists) Personal “Damien’s supporters go to horse races,” Body Politic, no. 50 (1979), p. 4 Harry Kopyto ({Client}) Professional 3/21/1975 - 3/21/1975 https://lglc.ca/event/n75.48 https://lglc.ca/event/n75.28 John Mooney (Coworkers) Professional Occupational 5/13/1975 Event: May 13 Toronto The lawyer for John […] Bette Stephenson (Antagonists) Personal "Damien case: minister interferes, government agencies collaborate," Body Politic, no. 24 (1976), p. 6 Thoreau Willard O'Mulvenny (Antagonists) Personal BCFI[“Damien’s supporters go to horse races,” Body Politic, no. 50 (1979), p. 4] Paul Kellogg ({subjectInterview}) Professional Occupational 1/27/1977 Event: February 5 Toronto About 150 people […] Charles MacNaughton ({Employee}) Professional Occupational - 1975/02 Event: Autumn Toronto John Damien sued Dr. […] John Mooney (Coworkers) Professional Occupational 1975/05/13 BCDF [n75.81] Thoreau Willard O'Mulvenny ({Patient}) Professional Occupational notAfter(1975) Event: Autumn Toronto John Damien sued Dr. […] "Ten years, and still fighting," Body Politic, no. 111 (1985), p. 7 Paul Jewell ({Client}) Professional Legal notAfter(1977/02/05) Event: February 5 Toronto About 150 people […] Bob Powers ({Client}) Professional Legal notAfter(1977/02/05) Event: February 5 Toronto About 150 people […]
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: Committee to Defend John Damien (Subject) 1975/02/22 - 1986/12/24 BCDE [n75.28]