Why Halloween is 'gay Christmas' to many LGBTQ Amerins

Contents:

• WHY HALLOWEEN IS 'GAY CHRISTMAS' TO MANY LGBTQ AMERINS
• GAY CHRISTMAS: THE QUEER HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN
• GAY PARTI & EVENTS
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• MOSW GAY BARS

WHY HALLOWEEN IS 'GAY CHRISTMAS' TO MANY LGBTQ AMERINS

"Merrie cherryAn extravaganza of the supernatural, all thgs sweet and larger-than-life stum, many LGBTQ Amerins like Roberts hail Halloween as "gay Christmas.

GAY CHRISTMAS: THE QUEER HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

" But the ntemporary excement around the supernatural holiday has a long history wh the LGBTQ morn phrase "gay Christmas" actually stems om an earlier queer nickname for the holiday, "bch Christmas, " acrdg to Marc Ste, a profsor of history at San Francis State Universy, and thor of "Cy of Sisterly and Brotherly Lov. "Durg the 1950s and '60s, Philalphia's LGBTQ muny celebrated "bch Christmas" by drsg up drag and partyg the cy's gay bars, Ste said. "Followg the wave of LGBTQ activism and visibily sparked by the 1969 Stonewall rts, more formal versns of queer Halloween celebratns began poppg up "gayborhoods" around the untry.

" As a gay man, he scribed Halloween as one of the only tim a year growg up when he was not "ostracized or punished or cricized for havg the flamboyant, creative tennci. Go to the Seattle Gay Scene Calendar to seek out all the known LGBTQ+ event/shows/parti gog on over Halloween Weekend om Thursday, October 28 through Sunday, October 31st! Send to ” @ seattlegayscene.

Oh, and for gay men who like to party hard all night long, there’s Veroti’s Zexy Nghty LABRYNTH event takg place at 1st & Bell wh after party fun at Steamworks. Seattle Gaymers Annual Halloween Party @ Timbre Room. For the 5th year Seattle Gaymers is thrilled to throw our overlap party of spooks and geekery.

GAY PARTI & EVENTS

As the Edorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways wr, eds and do about a ln other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most vised LGBTQ news, arts and entertament webse now celebratg s 14th year as a media outlet. Police were often openly homophobic while, the meantime, more and more young LGBT people were movg to the cy, seekg the opportuny to be themselv.

It “had been staked out years before as the homosexual high holiday, ” Shilts explas: “gays did, after all, live most of their liv behd masks. ”’ And for the rt of the eveng, at a time when was illegal even for gay people to “peaceably assemble, ” the San Francisns were ee to celebrate and roe a tremendo street party—until the clock stck midnight. “When the hours shifted om October 31 to November 1, the iron fist of Lilly Law, ” the then-current gay slang for a policeman, “would fall aga.

For the next six s, that night would be a highlight of San Francis’s gay lendars—until, 2007, when the Halloween party was ncelled by cy officials, due to overcrowdg and repeated cints of vlence. But homophob began g trouble, settg fire to gay-owned bs or lurkg at the edge of the crowd, wag to attack people they believed to be gay or lbian. A new era of sexual openns had brought a wave of gay migratn crashg down on San Francis’s shor, ready to take to s streets.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

Loted the heart of Seattle’s historic gay neighborhood, Capol Hill, Queer/Bar is a mega clive bar, performance space, and home base for the queer muny. Jo Charlie’s as they celebrate what they do bt and dance at one of Denver’s most popular gay bars. In The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Tim of Harvey Milk (1982), thor Randy Shilts wr that “One eveng a year, like a chapter om a Crella story, the police would btow a ee night upon the homosexuals.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

As the cy’s celebratn grew populary, siar holiday ftivals sprang up gayborhoods around the natn. On October 30 and 31, gay pop-up parti like Horse Meat Dis and Battle Hymn plan on temptg LGBTQ club kids to twirl till the bewchg hour along wh sr of other events throughout the cy. This year, gay edian Randy Rabow serv as Grand Marshal and will lead thoands of whimsilly drsed revelers along 6th Avenue om Sprg Street to 16th Street.

On October 21, pay rpects to New York’s queer past by jog Gay Bars That Are Gone, a walkg tour that viss LGBTQ landmarks laid to rt Manhattan. “Gay Bars That Are Gone is a memory walk, ” says Michael Ryan, the tour’s creator. Post-tour, guts ually gather for a drk at Juli’ — a blast-om-the-past gay bar that only tak sh.

After ncelg last year’s event, the cy’s gayborhood is ready to brg back their ghouls wh this year’s theme, Nightmare Prom. Hillcrt’s abundance of gay bars are the -facto afterparty statns, so stop by spots like Rich’s, Gossip Grill, or the Rail to keep the night alive.

MOSW GAY BARS

” He also remends gog to the Boatslip’s afternoon Tea Dance and bar hoppg to spots like A-Hoe, one of Ameri’s olst gay bars, to make the most of the eveng.

Although the Halloween ftivi occur the cy’s historic gayborhood, Balof says people of all ag and orientatns participate the para. Balof, who also manag the monster-sized gay bar Sitrack, remends visors see as many stume ntts at lol clubs as possible. When to the holy day, Chigo’s gayborhood is ad ser.