That's right we own Halloween, and if you need any more proof then look no further than Chicago’s Northalsted which was the perfect haunt for Halloween.
This year Halloweekend at Sidetrack was a week full of all the steamy fights and sexy delights — or should we say tricks and treats — you could hope for!
Sidetrack kicked off the holiday week with their Glow Party, and the gays turned up and turned out in their sexiest costumes. The next night saw the venue's main event, featuring Chicago’s largest LGBTQ+ costume contest. And finally, Halloween Night (Thursday) saw the Haunted Halsted Halloween Parade produced by the Northlasted Business Alliance.
On Halloween they also honored their Grand Marshals Auntie Heroine, Scylla and Aurora Gozmic from The Boulet Brothers' Dragula season 666. So yes, it was a spooky, ooky, and gay week to remember!
Courtesy of VMI Releasing; Bangor Films; A24; Cineverse
Courtesy of VMI Releasing; Bangor Films; A24; Cineverse
Merry Gay Christmas — and by that I mean Happy Halloween!
Today is our day to dress up, get spooky and celebrate. But maybe you don't feel like hitting the clubs or parties tonight. Perhaps you’d rather cozy up and watch a scary movie from the safety (and climate-controlled space) of your living room. Well, good news there has never been a better time to be a queer horror fan.
From films that explore themes that resonate with our lives — many are told by queer directors and starring out actors — to modern classics that may not be explicitly queer but might as well be because they are so rooted in our culture — there is no shortage of streamable spine tinglers for you to enjoy.
If that sounds like how you’d like to ring in this holiday, we have a list of LGBTQ+ horror films that have come out in recent years that you may have missed — and where you can watch them right now.
Ganymede
Courtesy of VMI Releasing
A star wrestler struggling with his gay awakening — and feelings toward his classmate — is stalked by a mythological creature living in his closet. From creative and real-life partners Colby Holt and Sam Probst, this tale feels both familiar and sadly relevant.
Out actress Madison Bailey stars in this time-travel slasher about a high school student who travels back to the early ‘00s in an attempt to prevent a serial killer's reign of terror.
A group of popular influencers head off to a music festival but before the concert can even begin they start being picked off one-by-one by a serial killer with a keen sense of irony. Jojo Siwa stars — but that's only the only way it’s queer, which we can’t say more about because — shh, spoilers.
I Saw the TV Glow is one of the most haunting and original films to drop all year. It follows teens who bond over their shared obsession with a television show that may also hold the secret to their true identities.
Nonbinary filmmaker Laura Moss turns their lens on the Frankenstein story with this shocking, beautiful, and fearless tale of immorality — and amorality.
A gay bachelor party takes a spooky turn when they accidentally unleash a spirit and the groom's homophobic future brother-in-law shows up. Frankie Grande steals the show in this horror comedy that is just so very fun!
Before Cooper Koch snatched our hearts and all our thirst in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story he starred in this steamy and genuinely shocking body horror film about a drug run gone terribly, horribly, gruesomely wrong from out director Carter Smith, which also starred out actors Jena Malone and Mark Patton. This one is impossible to forget.
If you love the micro-budget era of the New Queer Cinema era then you don't want to miss You Can’t Stay Here which sees Guillermo Diaz starring as a gay photographer in the early ‘90s who photographs his sexual encounters in cruising spots only to accidentally witness a serial killing by someone who targets cruising spots — and who becomes fixated on him.
A lesbian couple faces the ultimate test of their relationship with a chronic, supernatural illness strikes one of them down. It’s romantic, sweet, and terrifying folk horror.
Remember when I said "movies that aren't explicitly queer but might as well be"? Yeah, I was talking about The Substance, a movie unlike anything you've seen before. The film follows Demi Moore as Elizabeth Sparkle an aging starlet who is given the chance to create a better younger version of herself — here's the catch — they have to take turns existing, swapping every week. What could possibly go wrong? Buckle in, because this one takes you for a RIDE.
Now that the pandemic is done and dusted, we're so excited that people are getting out there and serving -- and we absolutely live for the "I hate gay Halloween" trend.
We're huge fans of any chance to dress up in big, over-the-top, fabulous costumes, but there's one thing you always have to remember when picking out what to wear: DON'T BE OFFENSIVE. It's really not that hard. Unless you want to look like a complete jerk, these 15 problematic costume ideas should be avoided at all costs.
Jeffrey Dahmer
Netflix
Please, for the love of all things good, DO NOT EVER dress up as Jeffrey Dahmer! If you're a fan of the Dahmer series with Evan Peters and that's your inspiration, just choose to go as either Evan Peters himself or another character. At least eBay is smart enough to ban this from happening, but just... don't. While we're at it, avoid dressing up like any other serial killer, either.
The Menendez Brothers
Netflix
While you're at it, you should also avoid dressing up as the Menendez brothers, which seems to be the new trend after the popularity of the Monsters show that focused on them released on Netflix. They may wind up getting released from prison, and it may be a riveting story that's captivated our interest for years, but you should avoid dressing up as someone who murdered their parents.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard
Gotham/Getty Images
It's almost disturbing that we have to caution people away from people who offed their parents, but the glorification and glamification of criminals is getting out of whack. Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison after years serving as the accomplice for her mother's death, and she shot to superstardom with constant coverage in People and multiple reality shows on Lifetime. I've seen people dress up as Blanchard and her mother, and all of that is just a no.
A bloody tampon
Amazon
Why? Just... why? Yes, there's a shock factor to it, and yes it can be funny at a party, it just seems like a very disturbing idea to envision yourself as an object that soaks up blood. Plus, the way that Republicans have turned access to tampons into a partisan anti-trans issue is weird and gross and you don't want any part of that.
Donald Trump
Amazon
Unless you're Alec Baldwin or you're doing a great job making fun of the guy, please never go as Donald Trump. The amount of MAGA who idolize him, the fact this even exists, it all just hurts. May the Trump train end in peace sooner rather than later.
The COVID Vaccine
Walmart
I mean, but seriously, just don't. No one wants COVID to be a main topic anymore. It still exists, we've sort of gone back to normal, but we don't need the constant reminders, and we certainly don't need to the tacky costumes to boot. Please, just don't.
A mentally ill person
Halloweencostumes.com
Mental health is really not something to poke fun of or make light of. Suicide is a real issue, and dressing up as any type of mentally ill person may be triggering to someone who is dealing with some serious internal problems.
Blackface
It's 2023 Mary, do we really have to say this? You should already know by now that blackface (the act of a non-Black person putting on dark face makeup to caricaturize a Black person) is an extremely offensive and racist act that harkens back to 19th-century minstrel shows that used awful racial stereotypes when portraying Black people.
Anything that's fat shaming/body shaming
VH1
Making light of and poking fun at someone's body size is not just inconsiderate, it's also really lazy and unfunny. Bodies come in all different shapes and sizes, so why are the bigger ones the ones that mostly get made fun of?
Anything that's sexist
Amazon
It's amazing how gendered and sexist seemingly innocent Halloween costumes can be. Take this hospital-themed couple's costume set from Party City, for example. Why is the male doctor not sexualized and objectified like the female nurse is? And since when do nurses wear short dresses, fishnet stockings, and high heels?
Anything that uses stereotypes
Shutterstock
Don't use dumb stereotypes to make a costume. More often than not, those stereotypes have real life consequences. There's nothing cute or quirky about a white girl dressing up in clothing she thinks is "gangster" or "urban" or "thuggish," especially when you consider how different Black men are viewed and treated for wearing the same things.
Cultural appropriation
Amazon
Don't wear something that has special (and sometimes sacred) meaning to a culture that isn't your own. See! So simple to remember!
Anything that's sexualizing/fetishizing
Halloweencostumes.com
One of the few things worse than cultural appropriation is sexualized cultural appropriation. Reducing a culture and their unique traditions/garments to a singular, fetishized image? That's just plain gross.
A trans person's gender identity and their appearance (no matter where they are in their transition) should never be the subject of a Halloween costume.
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Podwall Entertainment
So what exactly is "Gay Halloween?"
Alright, someone's gotta ask, what the hell is "Gay Halloween" and why is it so niche?
It's no secret that gays love Halloween, and often spend way too much time, effort, and money on costumes that no average person will understand unless they are explained.
This year, that includes going as Chappell Roan and a passenger seat, the Blue Pikmin saying "im f*g?" meme, the school lockers from Bottoms, or a specific shot of Charli xcx on a treadmill in the "360" music video.
But where did this tradition come from? Why do gays love being so extra? And why do they love to be even more extra on Halloween?
Gay Halloween allows people to express themselves
Fashion is a great way to express yourself, and on Halloween, there are no rules!
Once you put on your costume, you're allowed to act out of character, and you can express yourself in ways you might've been afraid to before.
If a boy wants to dress up as a cat from Cats or the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera, he can. If a man wants to dress a woman, he can. If you want to dress as a flamboyant Disney villain like Ursula or Captain Hook, you're allowed to, and you're allowed to act as over the top as they do!
Gay Halloween allows you to explore gender
Many people (both queer and cishet) dress in drag or crossdress for Halloween. Whether you're trans or gay or gender nonconforming, having fun with the way you dress can be a great way to explore how you feel about gender, sexuality, and self.
As a trans woman, the first time I dressed as a woman in front of other people was at a Halloween party. So were the next several times. Eventually, I came out as trans following my third year in a row dressing as a woman. My story is far from unique.
Gays love a pop culture deep cut
For many gays, pop culture references are also a type of shibboleth for the culture. Oh, you've seen every episode of The L Word? You can quote the Nicole Kidman AMC theater commercial bar-for-bar? You know every scene from Madonna's "Like a Prayer" video? That's such gay culture!
Sharing niche pop culture references has long been a way to signal that you're gay without having to come out and say it.
This has been a part of gay culture as long as gays have been culturing. In England from the 19th century to the 1970s, gay men and actors would use the language Polari, which incorporated Italian, Cockney Rhyming Slang, and Yiddish, to make a new language exclusive to gay men.
In the U.S., a popular phrase used to ask if someone was gay in the mid-twentieth century was "are you a friend of Dorothy?" in reference to the film The Wizard of Oz.
If you got this cultural reference, you were seen as safe. Now, gays are doing the same thing, but this time with the tennis ball POV shot from Challengers.
Gays love culture!
Pop culture will always be an important part of queer culture. Often, seeing a queer or queer-coded character in a book, television, movie, or on stage is the first time a queer person will recognize who and what they are.
If you grow up in a community where you don't know or see queer people, you might have to dive deep into pop culture to find people you can relate to.
It might not even be an obvious reference. Maybe the first time you felt seen was when you saw a niche meme from an early season of Real Housewives. Maybe the first time you felt seen was when you saw a queer side character in one episode of Law and Order. These references are valid, and make great Halloween costumes!
Gays love to show off their skills and taste!
Many queers go all-out on Halloween, sewing, gluing, paper macheing, and 3D printing to get the most beautiful and complex costume they can get.
Fashion is another world that queers have long led, and a holiday like Halloween is perfect because it specifically asks people to stretch their fashion bona fides.
Whether you're picking out the most stylish costume or making it yourself, Halloween is a great way to show off your fashion skills.
Halloween IS Gay Christmas
Halloween has also become even bigger for the gays as the years have gone on, with many calling it "Gay Christmas."
Many of the reasons I've listed here have come together to build Halloween up in the minds and hearts of gays across the country. While Pride Month is technically already our big holiday, we decided that we wanted another one. Christians get Christmas and Easter, don't they? Patriots get 4th of July and Veterans Day. We deserve two holidays!
Now that you know a little bit about the history of Gay Halloween, it's time for you to go and make your own super obscure costume and explain it over and over again at every party you go to!
