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Angry like DeWolf >> Montreal stockbroker DeWolf Shaw says he was fired because he has AIDS. Now he's taking on the entire securities industry
by PHILIP PREVILLE Photo by Gunther Gamper
Strangely, however, the one man who did see fit to demonstrate against discrimination at Divers/Cité was conspicuous by his bone-straight appearance. Alone in his suit and tie, carrying a placard that read "Discrimination in the Financial District," 49-year-old gay stockbroker G. DeWolf Shaw protested against his own dismissal from First Marathon Securities after being diagnosed with AIDS. Shaw, who was fired on January 6, 1999, has filed complaints against the company with Quebec's Labour Standards Commission and the Quebec Human Rights Commission. His lawyers have also sent a letter to First Marathon Inc. in the United States (which, technically speaking, was his employer) demanding $80 million U.S., the first step towards a lawsuit. To complicate matters even more, First Marathon was purchased last month by Montreal-based National Bank, making the bank the inheritor of Shaw's lawsuit. Since Tuesday, Shaw has been making a daily one-man protest march from the offices of First Marathon on Dorchester Square to National Bank headquarters at Beaver Hall and de la Gauchetière. Shaw, a Montrealer born and bred, is seeking nothing less than his total reinstatement. But the issue has ballooned into something bigger for him as well: a crusade against what he calls widespread homophobia in the financial services industry. "The industry's image is centered around macho, jockular athletes," says Shaw. "First Marathon got its name because it was founded by marathon runners, which gives you some idea." In other words, wealthy clients want to trust their money to someone who can go the distance, who can handle the pressure. Not someone who, in their minds, is a limp-wristed, lily-livered faggot.
Messy outing DeWolf Shaw's ordeal begins with what seems like, at first glance, the juiciest kind of high-society scandal. In 1996, Shaw, married with three children, at the top of his industry earning over $500,000 a year, was having an extramarital affair with another man. Confronted by his family about an overheard telephone conversation, Shaw confessed. His marriage disintegrated. Only when his secret was discovered did he go for a blood test; he tested positive for HIV, and within two months was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. In early 1997, he began cocktail therapy and responded remarkably well; to this day, he remains in near-perfect health. While Shaw kept the medical details secret from his employer, rumours quickly spread through his office. Shaw expected as much; what he didn't expect was that his First Marathon colleagues would start spreading the rumours to his clients. "My co-workers called my clients to tell them I was gay, I had AIDS, and I had given my wife AIDS," says Shaw, who adds that some of his clients will testify in court to that effect. "My ex-wife has never tested positive for HIV or AIDS. That simply was not true." Shortly thereafter Shaw was demoted as the manager of First Marathon's Montreal office, and from that point on he believed the writing was on the wall. Numerous times, says Shaw, his superiors asked him to divulge his medical condition; Shaw repeatedly refused. But Shaw says they knew anyway, because he was claiming over $2,000 per month on the company health plan for his cocktail therapy drugs. "Those records are supposed to be confidential between me and the insurance company," says Shaw. "It's not entirely clear how they found out, but they obviously knew how much my claims were."
Invasions of privacy Shaw stayed with First Marathon through all of 1997 and 1998, but things heated up again in November when First Marathon Chief Operating Officer Kym Anthony (also a Montrealer) called Shaw's psychotherapist, telling him Shaw was going to be terminated and the company needed to know his medical status; the psychotherapist took shorthand notes of the conversation, but refused to divulge any details. "That phone call was a total invasion of my privacy and a gross violation of my civil rights," Shaw says. His psychotherapist will also testify on his behalf in court. Finally, on January 6, 1999, Shaw's employment was terminated. For the next three months, he and First Marathon tried to agree on a severance package. They first offered him a severance of worth about $570,000. But when Shaw factored in the loss of medical and life insurance, he concluded that "First Marathon was offering me a negative settlement, which the law forbids them to do. They fired me, then wanted me to write them a cheque." The company then suggested he go on long-term disability, which Shaw also refused. "I am in good health and perfectly fit to work," he says. "First Marathon was asking me to commit insurance fraud."
Put that in writing When the negotiations led nowhere, Shaw began his court actions and went public with his case in April. First Marathon replied by releasing their Human Rights Commission filing to the media, which claimed that Shaw was fired because he had become "increasingly difficult to work with" and "the corporation had also begun to have doubts about his business judgment." The filing also claimed that Anthony called the psychotherapist because they feared Shaw's firing would "precipitate some kind of personal and emotional crisis." Shaw says the release of that document was another slap in the face, a possible defamation of character. The Human Rights Commission has since sent Shaw a letter saying the company's actions "could be interpreted as infringement upon your reputation and your private life," and have added this complaint to his file. As for being difficult to work with, Shaw says there were open disagreements in the office, but nothing out of the ordinary. "I've fired people before and I know how it's done," he says. "You give them a written warning and you tell them if it happens again, they're gone. First Marathon never gave me anything in writing. They even said I was breaking company policy when I refused to divulge my medical status. I told them to put that on paper. They never did." Now that the National Bank owns First Marathon, things have changed slightly. They are the ones in charge of Shaw's file now; First Marathon no longer calls the shots, and it's not too late for a settlement. "We're studying Mr. Shaw's case at the moment," says National Bank spokesperson Jocelyn Dumas. "We have not taken a position on it as yet." Meanwhile, Shaw's settlement demands have expanded to include what he calls a "covenant" on equal treatment for all people in the financial services industry, as well as generous donations to various hospitals and foundations. "This isn't about money anymore," says Shaw. "People in this industry wait forever before getting tested, they stay in denial just like I did, because they fear the reprisals that will follow. The industry has to clean up its act."
For more information, visit DeWolf Shaw's Web site: www.civilrightslegalfund.com |
The air of protest has all but disappeared from gay pride celebrations--pride parades have morphed over the years from mass protests against discrimination into huge, rolling nightclubs of permissiveness. At this year's Divers/Cité parade, people of all stripes looked on as scantily-clad queens of both the drag and muscle persuasions strutted their stuff in an atmosphere of mutual acceptance.