Fonds F0183 - Danny Cockerline fonds

Daniel Charles Cockerline was born in North Bay, Ontario on September 30, 1960. After being offered several scholarships from a number of universities, Cockerline settled on the University of Toronto and moved to the city. Cockerline eventually transferred to Ryerson Polytechnic Institute, where he became the spokesperson for the Ryerson Lesbian and Gay Men’s Club. Cockerline was enrolled in the epidemiology department.

In the early 1980s, Cockerline invited a representative of The Body Politic to address the Ryerson Lesbian and Gay Men’s Club. After attending the talk given by Chris Bearchell, Cockerline was drawn into The Body Politic orbit. Cockerline and his boyfriend at the time David Chang, became volunteers for the newspaper. He worked in the news department, while Chang worked in production. In April 1982, Cockerline was listed as a part of The Body Politic contributors, and became one of the paper’s publishers the following year. Cockerline and Chang appeared together on the cover of The Body Politic’s September 1982 issue. He would appear on The Body Politic cover two more times.

Through the paper’s news department, Cockerline covered the the sex worker beat. After publishing a big piece on sex work in the January 1984 issue, Cockerline decided to become a sex worker and would become a well known advocate for sex workers. His interest in sexual politics, sex work, gay activism, were inextricably linked.

For a short period of time, Cockerline and Chang lived with a few of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in an old apartment on Parliament Street, nicknamed “The Vatican”. Cockerline and Bearchell eventually purchased a three-storey house located on 97 Walnut Avenue which became a queer refuge called Walnut. Cockerline got a job working at City Hall in the micrographics department, where a handful of other The Body Politic collective members worked, many of whom were hired by archivist James Fraser. After being laid off from City Hall, Chang and Cockerline moved to London, where he would stay for 6 months. While living in London, Cockerline subletted his room to Bruce Martin. Upon his return to Toronto, he continued working as a sex worker and advertised through Now Magazine and Toronto’s Yellow Pages. During this time, he continued campaigning to destigmatize sex work, through letters to editors, television and radio apperances. Cockerline appeared on Geraldo Rivera’s talk show where he countered Rivera’s opinion that all sex workers were “typhoid Marys gleefully spreading AIDS to an innocent population”. Cockerline was featured in ACT’s safer sex video for members of the deaf community. He attended both World Whores Congresses in Amsterdam in 1985 and Brussels in 1986. In 1989, Cockerline attended and protested at the International AIDS Conference in Montreal.

While attending a Right to Privacy Committee strategy meeting, Cockerline and Bearchell connected with Peggie Miller. Miller was looking for support for her own challenge to the bawdy house laws. In 1982, Miller was charged with keeping a common bawdy house, after bringing an undercover police officer back to her apartment. She pled not guilty but lost her case. Miller’s lawyer informed her that there was no point in appealing the ruling until the laws were changed. The three of them established the Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes (CORP) in 1982 or 1983, later known as the Sex Professionals of Canada. This Toronto-based organization advocated for the destigmatization and decriminalization of sex work. CORP was hatched at Walnut.

Under the auspices of CORP and the AIDS Committee of Toronto, Cockerline established the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project in 1986. Initially known as the Safe Sex Corps, this project produced some of Canada’s first safe sex pamphlets and condoms for sex workers. The mission for the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project was to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and to combat the accusations that sex workers were responsible for spreading the virus. This project used one-on-one contact to educate and equip sex workers with information about HIV/AIDS prevention, buttons, and condoms. This project came at a time when health officials, police, and politicians were threatening widespread testing and the quarantining of sex workers.

In 1985 or 1986, Maggie’s was established after Miller convinced Bearchell to help her put together a Board of Directors. This Board included June Callwood, Gwendolyn, Grant Lowry, Lionel Collier, Bearchall, and Miller. Maggie’s was named after Margaret (Babba Yabba), an organizer who founded Toronto’s first sex workers rights group in the late 1970s. Maggie’s was established to provide access to information, services, and support to assist sex workers in their efforts to live and work with safety and dignity. It provided sex workers with a drop-in and advocacy centre in downtown Toronto. Cockerline became Maggie’s first coordinator where he continued working on the Prostitutes’ Safe Sex Project. Through this project, Maggie’s received AIDS prevention funding from the City of Toronto’s Board of Health in 1989. It was the first sex workers’ group to receive government funding. In 1991, Maggie’s was incorporated under the name Toronto Prostitutes’ Community Service Project and became a registered charity.

In 1990, Cockerline decided to travel the world. By that time, he had already sold off his share of Walnut and had sublet his Church Street apartment. Bearchell took over his role as coordinator at Maggie’s. On his trip, he developed allergies for the first time in his life. He suspected that the allergies were immune-related. He tested HIV postive while attending the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver. Cockerline returned to Toronto in 1992. Upon his return he almost single-handedly wrote Maggie’s Operations Manual, bylaws, and policies, which were adopted at the first Annual General Meeting in 1993. Cockerline kept his HIV-positive status mostly private, as he was concerned that it would undermine his safe sex activism.

On April 6, 1992, The Sex Workers’ Alliance of Toronto (S.W.A.T) was started by a group of sex workers including Cockerline. This group was established to provide a place for people working in all areas of the sex trade to get together, share their opinion, discuss current events and brainstorm ideas on how to improve their working conditions. The group was solidified in January 1993, after Cockerline drafted its constitution. S.W.A.T and Maggie’s collaborated on critical defenses against summer sweeps and media panic.

Cockerline was featured in porn films including Chi Chi Larue’s Midnight Sun, Tim Lowe’s Weekend Adventure, and the Grip of Passion. He also appeared in a Honcho and Mandate photo spread.

Cockerline died on December 11, 1995 and left a suicide note. He had become increasingly anxious and depressed over Mike Harris’ Ontario Conservative government plans to cut off funding for HIV medications. Cockerline’s memorial service was held on December 15, 1995. Jack Layton spoke at Cockerline’s memorial and his life was honoured by a resolution in Metro Council.