Metalheads gay and straight got the chance to bow down before the Metal God in Toronto last weekend at the North by Northeast Music and Film Festival, and my friend, photographer/videographer Clint Gilders from Club Kingsnake, was there and shared his impressions and some great photos and video clips with us.

The Metal God is, of course, out gay heavy metal legend Rob Halford, lead singer of iconic metal band Judas Priest. Halford's homosexuality was an open secret in the music world for years, but in 1998 he made if official, coming out in an interview on MTV.

For those who don't follow the metal scene -- and that would include me, I'm more of an alternative/indie kind of gal -- Halford is credited as being the first artist to really bring metal out of the underground and into the mainstream. He was also the first leather-garbed, Harley-straddling metal star, and his image has gone on to be adopted by a generation of metal-god-wannabes.