Danny Cockerline: Toronto’s Patron Saint of Whores and Hustlers (1960-1995), by Ryan Conrad

This exhibit focuses on gay HIV-positive sex worker activist Daniel Charles Cockerline (1960-1995), who was involved in the founding of numerous sex workers’ rights organizations in Toronto, Ontario, from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. The exhibit highlights his largely underrecognized contributions to the sex workers’ rights movement in Canada, including his production of some of the first HIV-prevention materials by and for sex workers. Published originally on OutHistory in 2025.

Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project / Maggie’s

Order form for HIV-prevention materials from what would later become known as the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project, circa mid-1980s. Courtesy of Andrew Sorfleet.

Announcement for the formal launch of the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project after it received funding from the City of Toronto Board of Public Health in 1988. From the estate of Christine Louise Bearchell, courtesy of executor Andrew Sorfleet.

Photo plaque of Danny Cockerline wearing a Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project t-shirt at Toronto gay pride in June 1987. The plaque hung in the Maggie’s office until a fire in 2023 destroyed the building in which the organization was housed. Photograph by Konnie Reich; photograph of plaque, Ryan Conrad, 2018.

An example of one of the many HIV prevention posters created by the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project, this one featuring a photo of Danny Cockerline. Poster designed by Will Pritchard, 1990. Courtesy of Andrew Sorfleet.

“Safe Sex Slut” and “Safe Sex Ho!” buttons distributed by the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project in the mid to late 1980s, courtesy of Andrew Sorfleet.

The rise in sex worker organizing and activism to challenge the criminal code in the early to mid-1980s through CORP was eventually eclipsed by the need to respond to the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Early versions of the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project (PSSP) evolved out of CORP’s work, using names such as Safe Sex Corps. By 1986 Danny had founded the PSSP and by 1988 he had received funding from the City of Toronto Board of Health to do education and prevention outreach with sex workers. While Danny was busy getting PSSP off the ground, Chris and Peggie were organizing to launch Maggie’s, The Toronto Prostitutes’ Community Service Project. Maggie’s was envisioned as a one-stop hub for support services geared towards sex workers, something Danny had been far less interested in previously as his focus was on political organizing and criminal law reform.[1] Nonetheless, PSSP was the first sex worker-led group in Canada to receive government funding in 1988 and PSSP would go on to grow as a project of Maggie’s.

With government funding, Danny went on to produce numerous posters, pamphlets, buttons, and other HIV-prevention outreach materials for people working as prostitutes. These were geared towards educating sex workers about safer sex and safer drug use. They included the latest information about safer sex techniques and tools, but also used affirmative, direct, and non-stigmatizing language to convey this life-saving information.

[1] Carol Leigh, Interview with Danny Cockerline, Whore Culture, DVD, 1993.