{"id":25986,"date":"2024-10-30T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T16:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=25986"},"modified":"2024-10-25T13:34:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T20:34:26","slug":"gay-as-in-happy-its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-gay-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2024\/10\/30\/gay-as-in-happy-its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-gay-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay as in Happy<\/em>: It\u2019s beginning to look a lot like Gay Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year, Halloween rolls around and a bunch of people in the queer community call it \u201cGay Christmas,\u201d but what the heck does that even mean?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The nickname can be traced as far back as the \u201950s, so the practice is nothing new. Christmas is considered the highest holy day for a lot of people, especially in North America, where Christianity has been the predominant practice of those controlling stat holidays for a long time. The translation of holiness, of importance to a particular group, is the key here, and Halloween is important.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gay as in Happy<\/em> is a column appearing in every issue of Nexus<\/em> (graphic by Mackenzie Gibson\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For as long as any living person can remember, to be queer is to be taboo, even in relatively safe and accepting societies. You grow up immersed in the assumption that you will be straight, that you will fit broadly into the gender category that you\u2019ve been assigned, that you will be a certain type of person with certain types of desires and presentations. Any part of you that deviates from that standard is something you\u2019ll have to defend. Oftentimes this deviation is visible, so you find yourself at the defence table a lot.<\/p>\n

Halloween is different. It\u2019s a season where you\u2019re invited to shuck your normal presentation and try on something entirely new, with a serious decrease in the shame you\u2019d face for doing that on any other day. Who you are becomes a form of play, which briefly makes the world a safer place for those who play with their self-expression year-round.<\/p>\n

Even just among my friend group I know a lot of people who have discovered themselves as a result of this annual freedom. Playfulness can unlock a joy that we might resonate with more than we thought we would.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a time of embracing darkness. Being queer is not itself dark, but it has historically been banished to the shadows, our identities and desires called sinful, dirty, something to bury and hide in order to stay safe. We\u2019ve been cast as the demons and villains in stories for so long that it makes sense we would feel a little more relaxed when what has been demonized is invited to the party. Maybe we\u2019re not so monstrous after all. Maybe we\u2019re lovable and worthy of inclusion. That revelation, to me, is reason enough to grant holiness to any occasion.<\/p>\n

Since Halloween has such a history of making spaces for queer themes, my media suggestion this issue is less of a singular title and more a collection of my favourites. If you\u2019re looking for some campy fun, here are four spooky movies that are beloved by the queer community: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark<\/i> (1988); The Craft<\/i> (1996); The Rocky Horror Picture Show<\/i> (1975); Clue<\/i> (1985).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, Halloween rolls around and a bunch of people in the queer community call it \u201cGay Christmas,\u201d but what the heck does that even mean?\u00a0 The nickname can be traced as far back as the \u201950s, so the practice is nothing new. Christmas is considered the highest holy day for a lot of people, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,320],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-october-30-2024"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25987,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25986\/revisions\/25987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}