Forget witch and vampire costumes—this Halloween, the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating the spooky season with a viral meme dubbed, “I Hate Gay Halloween”.
While Halloween celebrators traditionally sport scary outfits, the community is embracing obscure pop culture moments and sharing these looks across social media. Costumes range from Lana Del Rey’s recent wedding to an alligator tour guide, to tributes to pop queen Chappell Roan‘s lyrics.
Riani Kenyon, an anthropologist and behavioral analyst at Canvas8 brand consultancy, explained the phenomenon to Newsweek
“This year’s ‘I Hate Gay Halloween’ meme, where people joke about the wildly specific costumes, highlights the fun of ‘getting the reference.’ The phrase has gone viral, with participants humorously bemoaning their commitment to costumes that only others ‘extremely online’ might recognize.
“Yet, this tongue-in-cheek approach to Halloween celebrates queer …