Every year, when June rolls around, rainbow flags are donned and LGBTQ+ people take to the streets to declare their pride. And every October, spiderwebs line bushes and gravestones are placed in gardens in preparation for Halloween.

 On first glance, these months’ events may seem unrelated. But the truth is, there is a hidden rainbow side to the hype around Halloween- the spooky holiday is slowly becoming… a gay holiday?! So much so, in fact, that you could even consider October a sort of “second pride month.” 

October is as eagerly awaited within the queer community as the month of June, if not even more so. And there’s a good chance that most people you see who really love Halloween- you know, the people who really love it- are part of the LGBTQ+ community. 

But why is there this appeal to queer people to color our hair spooky colors, to create elaborate costumes, to watch entirely too many Halloween movies, to don witches hats? 

Perhaps it’s because of the joy queer people find in getting to express ourselves for a night, wear whatever we want and be whoever we want to be without getting judged by society.  

Perhaps it’s for the more sobering reason that LGBTQ+ people are used to disguises and costumes, because we have had to hide our true selves from the world for a very long time. 

Maybe it’s because of the integration of gothic classics into Halloween, such as “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”, a genre that has long been analyzed due to its queer undertones. 

Or maybe we just really like candy. 

Whatever the reason, it is undeniable that Halloween has a certain appeal to queer people, in a way that straight people just can’t comprehend. So, straight people, I’ll try to put it as straightforwardly- pun intended- as I can: the holiday of Halloween belongs to the gays. It’s as important to us as football is to you. Or something like that. I don’t know what straight culture is. 

So if all your gay friends suddenly turned into walking advertisements for Spirit Halloween and wouldn’t stop singing “Nightmare Before Christmas” songs for the entire month of October, don’t question it. Please, just smile and go on with your life, leaving us to enjoy Halloween in all of its ghoulish gay glory.