Left: Chappell Roan in the crowd at governor's ball. Right: A woman dressed in a black witch's cloak and green face paint for halloween.
(Twitter / @nysidi)

‘I hate Gay Halloween’: This year’s best Halloween trend is actually amazing

Boo, you guys, Halloween is here, and hopefully, you have your costumes sorted for the night of spook about town! But in case you’re scampering to put together a last-minute outfit, just know that there’s no beating the gays at this game, if this new “I hate Gay Halloween” trend on X is anything to go by. They’ve already won Halloween.

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It’s not hard to believe that X is like the Pinterest for Halloween costume ideas inspired by viral pop culture moments. How many days has it been since the body horror flick, The Substance, released, or since we got the Chicken Shop Date with Andrew Garfield that made our heads spin and our hearts flutter? And already, people have minted some truly inspired costume ideas from them! 

Some of these ideas, though, are so obscure that people believe you’d either have to be chronically online or queer (or both) to truly get the reference or find someone who’d actually match your freak by being in on the joke with their own costume. And this has given rise to the “I hate Gay Halloween” trend, which now has a proper explainer on Know Your Meme, describing it as members of the LGBTQ+ community saying how much they “hate gay halloween” because the of “obscure costume that would most likely only land with another gay person.”

The meme format, which began gaining prominence a few years ago is back in time for Halloween this year too, and goes something like this: “I hate Gay Halloween because what to do you mean you’re dressed as…” followed by citing most outrageous and abstruse pop culture reference turned into a costume and a picture of that! Check out what this trend is churning out this year!

Okay, some of these are truly ideas that I’d never think could be turned into a tangible costume, like the one about the ball POV camera angle from Challengers, but these are really works of art!

Halloween can be one of two things. You can either let your freak flag fly by letting your costume convey something that’s on your mind a lot, like an ode to your favourite movie fandom or your most watched TV show moment. Or it can also be about stepping out of your usual comfort zone by experimenting with a costume that is “not you.” And this “gay halloween” trend is the perfect balance of both!

If you had to join in, what would your obscure gay halloween costume be?


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Jinal Bhatt
Jinal Bhatt (She/Her) is a staff writer for The Mary Sue. An editor, writer, film and culture critic with 7+ years of experience, she writes primarily about entertainment, pop culture trends, and women in film, but she’s got range. Jinal is the former Associate Editor for Hauterrfly, and Senior Features Writer for Mashable India. When not working, she’s fangirling over her favourite films and shows, gushing over fictional men, cruising through her neverending watchlist, trying to finish that book on her bedside, and fighting relentless urges to rewatch Supernatural.