The history of sexual orientation protections with Windsor unions and politics

by Walter Cassidy

The first gay liberation group in Windsor, Ontario started in 1972. The co-founders were Steve Lough, Jim Davies, Jim Monk, and Harold Desmarais. It took them some time to come up with a final name but they settled on Windsor Gay Unity (WGU). They were influenced by the Workers’ Unity formed in 1970 by Windsor Chrysler workers John Horne, Al and Lucy Dumouchelle.

Before the group was formed, a few of the early members were part of The Windsor Labour Centre (TWLC). The Windsor Labour Centre was housed in the Community Resource Centre (CRC) which was a bookstore that opened in 1971. Steven Shirreff, an early member, told me that the store stocked gay books and was the only place you could find them in the city at the time. The first director of TWLC was James Brophy.

Brophy was an American draft resister and former student movement leader, having served as student council president during his time at the University of Windsor during the late 1960s where he helped organize demonstrations and occupations on campus. Brophy subsequently moved to Toronto, where he helped establish the countercultural magazine Guerilla, and took part in labour organizing through the Militant Co-op, a broad-left rank-and-file group. Brophy soon moved back to Windsor to establish the CRC, believing that a radical bookstore could become a hub of resistance to capitalism and American imperialism and could serve as a common “community centre” of sorts for various left-wing groups and projects (Antay, 2020).

The Guerilla magazine had an impact on the gay publication The Body Politic. The most important gay publication in Canada in the 1970s and 80s. The magazine was ranked as the 17th most influential magazine in Canadian publishing history.

Back in Windsor, in the summer of 1971, TWLC put on a youth program called Project Lunch Bucket. There were talks about creating a gay liberation front working group as part of TWLC but as Monk tells it, there was some concern that “this might adversely affect other efforts in the organization aimed at encouraging rank and file workers to attend…events and meetings.” Lough decided to take a leave of absence from TWLC and instead went with the university format which had already had success in such places like Toronto and London. Their first meeting happened at the University of Windsor’s Student Centre.

A few of the original members were union workers for the “Big Three” auto companies including Harold Desmarais at Ford and Jim Monk at Chrysler. At the time it was very isolating to be Queer in union environments. Many members would have to live with the fear of losing their job if their sexuality was found out.

Almost immediately after creating the WGU, the group began to get involved beyond the university and into community endeavours. The WGU was trying to find support for political and social change in Windsor and beyond. Throughout the country Queer groups were focusing on basic rights and protections, especially inclusion in the provincial and federal human rights codes, and inclusion statements in workforce contracts. The risk of getting fired for being openly gay was a true and harsh reality in Canada. John Damien, who grew up in Windsor, a racing Steward, who lived in Toronto at the time, became the public face of this struggle when he got fired in 1975 for being gay. His legal struggle lasted 11 years.

Desmarais knew the only way to change the status quo was to find allies to this cause. He found that person in Les Dickirson. Dickirson would become one of the most important straight white allies in Windsor’s local unions. Dickirson was born in England in 1927 and moved to Canada with his family when he was young. In 1942 he began working at the International Playing Card Company in Windsor. Dickirson had a very impressive human rights record. As far back as 1966 Dickirson was on the human rights committee of his United Auto Workers (UAW) local 195. He continued in that position for decades and ended up being the chair of the Windsor Labour Council (WLC) human rights committee till the year 2000. In 1947 he was part of the Windsor Interracial Council which later changed its name to the Windsor Council on Group Relations. The group’s goals were to “promote spiritual and secular equality, fellowship, understanding and good-will among all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin.” He was involved in various public stand-ins and sit-ins protesting Windsor restaurants and hotels that were refusing to serve people of colour.

Similar arguments were being used against the gay community in the 1970s. If any type of same-sex affection or non-heteronormative behaviour or appearance was observed in public establishments, many Queer and trans people in Windsor were verbally harassed, kicked out, or physically attacked.

Desmarais recalled that “[a]lthough he was heterosexual, his activities caused people to label him as “queer.” That label never motivated him to back down or revise his position and beliefs (Email, 2021).”In 1974 he was already urging his UAW local 195 to include sexual orientation as a protected group in local bargaining. The UAW local 195 represented 60 different workplaces with 60 different contracts. Dickirson sent a letter to “all plant chairmen and general council delegates to… include race, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, or political affiliation” in their collective agreements (Desmarais, 7). Dickirson wrote, various times, to each of the reigning Ontario Ministers of Labour of the day to urge them to implement the recommendations by Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) Life Together report, which was released in 1977. The report proposed that sexual orientation be included in the OHRC.

Desmarais also saw the importance of getting involved in political parties if he wanted to see change in government policy including sexual orientation. In 1972, he “got involved in the Windsor-West New Democratic Party (NDP) Riding Association,” working hard with one particularly important central focus, gay rights.

On May 11, 1975, the NDP South-Western Regional conference in Chatham voted to urge the party’s provincial convention to lobby to amend the OHRC to include sexual orientation and as well as to “urge the Government of Ontario to appoint a Commission for an inquiry the firing of John Damien.” Both resolutions were moved by Desmarais (4). The passage of those motions mark the first time in Canada that a political party endorsed the concept of civil rights for Queer people.

A few months later in Kingston, the eighth provincial convention of the NDP saw a similar motion come forward to its members. There was an attempt to send the motion back to committee, but it was strongly contested by the well-organized gay caucus consisting of members from Ottawa, Toronto, and Windsor. The motion strengthened the NDP support for inclusion of a sexual orientation clause in the OHRC but with some changes to the original motion such as child custody for lesbian mothers. It wasn’t a complete victory, but it was a start.

Desmarais worked closely with MPP Ted Bounsall (NDP, Windsor-Sandwich) as his constituency assistant during this time. In fact, Desmarais only agreed to that position if Bounsall promised to bring forward a bill to include sexual orientation in the OHRC. In the 1975 provincial campaign Bounsall publicly declared his support of amending the OHRC to include sexual orientation.

That same year at the national convention in Winnipeg, Desmarais was also key in creating the NDP’s first gay caucus. Desmarais spoke at the convention on the green paper report on immigration and its failure to end discrimination against gays and he also ran for NDP federal council with a gay platform, but was defeated.

The next year Bounsall, with the help of Desmarais, brought forward a private member’s bill to Ontario’s provincial parliament to include sexual orientation under the OHRC (the first of its kind in Ontario) right before Margaret Campbell presented a member’s resolution on the same issue. The issue was debated and both bills were defeated.

On October 12, 1976, the Windsor & District Labour Council adopted a resolution to urge the “end to discrimination against male and female homosexuals (1976).” The WLC called on the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) to advocate for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the OHRC and all union contracts during their membership meeting. Micky Warner was president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 82 in 1976 and strongly supported the motion. In 1980 Dickirson was able to get his own collective agreement inclusion with the International Playing Card Company.

Prior to 1977 only two cities in Canada had sexual orientation protections for their workers—Toronto and Ottawa. The WGU and WLC wanted Windsor to be next. WGU worked with Warner, who represented the city’s outside workers. Once again Warner pledged his support. He worked hard to get all nine of the city’s union representatives to include prohibitions against discrimination against Queer city employees and began to lobby city councillors. WGU achieved their goal on March 14th, 1977, when Windsor City Council adopted the resolution. Desmarais spoke to the motion and James Wiggins, a member of the public, spoke against it. In the Windsor Star it was reported that Wiggins said, “homosexuals chose their lifestyle and should not be given special consideration by a council…homosexuality is not rained down by God nor caused by a chemical imbalance but is something that is willingly chosen just like biting one’s nails.” The resolution was carried by a narrow margin, four to three, and only after outbursts of homophobic comments from members of council and spectators. Desmarais remembered arguments during the council meeting that gays and lesbians might use the wrong washrooms if it passed. The accomplishment was covered through many gay newsletters all over North America and even in Europe. This was also the same year that the professors at the University of Windsor included a gay rights clause in their contract.

In 1979, Monk, who was at the time the president of the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario, met with Minister of Labour Robert Elgie as part of a delegation with Mariana Valverde of The Body Politic, Rev Brent Hawkes of Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto, and John Damien. Elgie assured them it was under careful study. Nothing changed while the Conservatives were in office.

In 1981 Monk spoke at the Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Bill 7 which would have changed the OHRC. This was the “third time in ten years Ontario gay groups had presented a major brief urging revision of the code.” At that point Monk noted it was “frustrating that the members seemed so unaware of how insulting some of their questions were. They obviously know so little.” The bill failed by a vote of 69-23 (Jackson, 1981).

The Province of Ontario would have to wait until 1986 before sexual orientation was finally included in the OHRC. It took Canada’s federal government until 1996.

The history of Queer and trans communities and local unions have an extraordinarily strong historic alliance in Windsor with many groups popping up throughout the years. There was the Canadian Auto Workers LGBT Caucus which started in 2000 and more recently the Unifor Local 444 2SLGBTQIA+ Committee founded by two local trans workers.

Dickirson retired in 1987. He worked at the card factory for 44 years. In 2007, at the age of 85, he was given the Charles Brooks Labour Community Service Award “which is presented annually to a trade unionist in recognition of outstanding contributions in the area of voluntary community service”(ourwindsor.ca). He died in 2014 at the age of 92.

The International Playing Card Company closed in 1989 and is now an elementary public school named after James L. Dunn, an important local Black educational and activist leader in the Windsor area.

Warner continued his strong union legacy for decades. He died in 2016. Davies was an active union member for Ontario Public Interest Research Group staffers for almost 24 years. He died in 2017. All four original members of Windsor Gay Unity have received recognition awards for their activism from the Windsor Pride Community. Desmarais and Lough are enjoying their retirement in Toronto and Monk is doing the same in Amherstburg, Ontario.

After a longer reflection on the fight, Desmarais has some advice on the success he had with the city vote.

1. Involvement in your greater community builds up contacts that will be most useful later on. It can create depts that can be collected later.
2. Timing—the presentation of the demand is of crucial importance… Do your homework, seek out your support, scrutinize your enemies for weakness. Attempt to enlist the aid of labour, church, and other groups—all before the formal request is made.
   (Desmarais, letter)

This story acts as an important historical reminder of the power of labour, allyship, and the impact of positive social change when everyone is seen, supported, and celebrated.

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Walter Cassidy (he/him) Teacher, District 9, Greater Essex, Educator in Residence for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

WORKS CITED
Antay, Sean. “The New Left at Work. Workers’ Unity, the New Tendency, and Rank-and-File. Organizing in Windsor, Ontario, in the 1970s.” Labour Journal of Canadian Labour Studies. Vol 85 Spring 2020.
Email from Harold Desmarais to Walter Cassidy on September 24th, 2021.
Desmarais, Harold. “Union Action Protects Gays.” Body Politic, no. 19, July-August 1975, p.7
“NDP Group Votes Gay Rights.” Gay Rising, vol. 1, no. 4, 1975, p. 4.
“Labour Council Supports Gay Rights,” Guardian of Windsor, October 1976
Jackson, Ed. “Ontario Human Rights ‘Omission’ : Cgro at Code Review Hearings.” Body Politic, no. 75, July-August 1981, p. 13.
https://www.ourwindsor.ca/whatson-story/9679510-charles-brooks-award-honours-windsor-labour-council-president/
Letter written by Harold Desmarais of the events of the municipal vote. Windsor Gay Unity. The Arquives.