2010 Pride Toronto Grand Marshals Mandy Goodhandy and Todd Klinck will receive the Theme Award at this year’s Gala & Awards Ceremony. Both are pleased to have been selected.
“It means a lot to both of us to be chosen as the embodiment of ‘You Belong’ for Pride 2010,” says Todd Klinck on winning the 2010 Pride Toronto Theme Award along with his longtime business partner and friend, Mandy Goodhandy. “Mandy and I have often felt like outsiders in this community, in that neither of us is particularly conventional. Sex workers are generally looked down upon, even if that is starting to change. So being asked to lead the parade is a huge deal for us.”
Klinck and Goodhandy are perhaps best known as the dynamic duo behind Goodhandy’s, Toronto’s “Pansexual Playground”, which has provided a venue for community events and has been known as a place where trans people, gays, lesbians, fetishists, nudists, sex workers, bisexuals, and supporters have been able to meet under one roof for fundraisers, dance parties, sex parties and networking for more than four years.
Their collaboration extends as far back as 1997 when Klinck became a photographer for Goodhandy’s porn site, then went on to work with her to promote events catering to trans women and their admirers. Eventually the two joined forces officially to open their pioneering club after the 2005 Supreme court ruling make it legal to have sex in nightclubs.
“Some people might think Goodhandy’s is just a nightclub,” says Klinck, “but there is definitely this ‘community centre’ feeling to the experience here. I’m not pretending we are not business people—we are here to survive and make a living too—but there is definitely a lot of joy and positive energy coming out of this place. And it’s a direct reflection of mine and Mandy’s personal values.”
Before teaming up with Klinck, Mandy Goodhandy (a.k.a. Amanda Taylor) already had a long history of being involved in Toronto nightclubs, serving as Entertainment Manager at Club Colby’s, then eventually opening her own club, The Playground. Funds she raised along the way contributed to many community efforts including the building of Casey House.
Todd Klinck, meanwhile, had been closely involved in the LGBT community since he was 17 and active in the first Windsor gay youth group. The success of his first novel, published when he was just 22, gave him a great deal of visibility in the LGBT community, which he used to speak out about his experience as a male sex worker.
“I’ve always been a vocal advocate of the importance to decriminalize prostitution,” says Klinck. “I will be so thrilled when the day comes that sex workers can do their chosen work openly, without fear of arrest or victimization. The decriminalization of sex work is an issue that should be fully supported by the queer community—and most of the time, when it is explained it is—but it’s still not widely understood as an issue related to the queer community. The chance to lead the parade, and to be marching side by side with sex worker activists and all of our other diverse club-related groups is a huge honour to us, and one we do not take lightly.”
Klinck says that though attitudes have shifted dramatically in recent years, there is still a sense of stigma attached to “being a venue that celebrates sex workers, and all sorts of different sexualities, orientations, and gender expression. It has been challenging, especially for the gay male population, to figure us out, because we’re not easily defined. ‘Are they a trannie bar? Are they a bathhouse? Are they a hooker bar?’ It’s been confusing for people, and we have really struggled at times to keep the doors open.”
Despite such challenges, Klinck is encouraged by the progress the community has made over the last few decades. “More people are out now, which is great. I have often said, the people who fought for our rights at Stonewall and in the bathhouse raids did amazing work. Now more and more celebrities are coming out, gays can get married in Canada and numerous other countries, and it’s all helping to create awareness.”
“Trans issues seem to be the next big hurdle,” says Klinck looking to the future. “A lot of people don’t know anything about Trans people. There needs to be so much more done when it comes to teaching people about what it means to be Trans.” To that end, he hopes “the LGBT movement can stop being so divided and fractured.”
Both Klinck and Goodhandy will be doing all they can this year to bring people together. “We both still work as bartenders at Goodhandy’s as much as possible,” he says, “and during Pride, we have events every night. Plus we have some media appearances, and of course, the parade march, so I don’t foresee a lot of sleep!” Such tireless devotion will certainly inspire the sense of belonging these two advocates have helped to promote in the community.
The 6th annual Gala and Awards Ceremony will be held at the Carlu on Wednesday 30th June starting at 6 pm. Tickets and tables can be purchased online at www.pridetoronto.com/events/gala-awards.
