Halloween Is Almost Here!
For many people in the United States and around the world, Halloween offers the opportunity for freedom of expression, a chance to step outside traditional social norms and play with identity, as well as celebrate with friends and chosen family.
Halloween is especially important to the LGBTQIA+ community due to the emphasis on self-expression and casting aside everyday social norms. Halloween is so widely celebrated within the community that it is sometimes affectionately referred to as “Gay Christmas.”
Queer communities have been holding Halloween balls and celebrations since at least the 1930s. By the 1970s, places like Castro Street in San Francisco and Greenwich Village in New York City had become famous for their Halloween celebrations, with some events serving as acts of visibility, solidarity, and even fundraising. Movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, along with drag performances, became Halloween mainstays and celebrated cross-dressing and drag, which we now see in cultural phenomena such as RuPaul’s Drag Race.
While Halloween is embraced by many people in the United States and elsewhere, some communities and groups may oppose or restrict the holiday. Some may insist that only certain approved costumes be worn, limit celebrations to children, or replace Halloween with a generic harvest-themed festival. Or with no celebration at all.
For someone growing up in such a community, especially if they are closeted or struggling to understand their identity, experiencing their first Halloween away from those restrictions can be transformative. It can provide an opportunity to explore self-expression, dress up as someone or something different than their norm, connect with others, and perhaps begin embracing who they truly are.
Halloween remains a widespread holiday celebrated by people of all ages, backgrounds, and orientations. You can read about the History of Halloween here!
A list of new movie titles and classics to celebrate Halloween
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