By Patrick Rylee on October 31, 2017
Every month, there seems to be a new holiday that supports the LGBT community, from Pride month in June to Pride celebrations throughout the year to International coming out day in October. The list goes on and on. But the first gay holiday (and many would argue the best) is Halloween. It’s the one day of the year where even the most modest of gay revelers can show their alter ego to the world and no one will judge.
Today’s Halloween holiday evolved from the Celtic New Year that began on November 1st and like any good New Year’s holiday, the night before was a time to party and ring in a new beginning. When the Church got involved, November 1st became All Saints’ Day and the night before turned into All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. When I was young, this was a simple day for trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins and dressing up in costumes. The holiday has now become an $8.5 billion industry, second only to Christmas. This holiday is not just for little kids anymore.
Well, we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out
And show ourselves when everyone has gone
Some are satin, some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They’re the faces of a stranger
But we’d love to try them on
Lyrics to The Stranger – Billy Joel
I have always felt that the lyrics to this song are a good reflection of Halloween. We are rarely, if ever are honest with ourselves as to who we really are. Most of who we are conforms to what we are told we should be. Remember when you were young and the boys wanted to be firemen and the girls wanted to be princesses? Halloween allowed children to try on different faces, if only for a few hours. Now imagine that the boy wanted to be the princess and the girl wanted to be the fireman. That was not ever going to happen as children, but as adults, they were free to try on those faces, the faces of a stranger.
Well, we all have a face
That we hide away forever
In the not too distant past, gays and lesbians had to hide who they were for fear of losing their jobs or even being arrested. At a minimum, those who were arrested found their names in the newspapers even if the charges were later dropped. The LGBT community used Halloween to express who they wanted to be without fear of arrest because there were, after all, only dressing up in costume. Even this didn’t stop the overzealous nature of the San Francisco police in the early 60s. Once the clock struck midnight, the police would drive around and arrest drag queens under an old city ordinance that made it illegal for a man to dress in women’s clothing with an “intent to deceive.” This was finally stopped when the gay community became more politically powerful.
In today’s San Francisco, you can’t swing a feather boa in the Castro without hitting someone in drag, but we forget that, with all of the freedoms the LGBT community now has, this holiday is still important to so many.
Some are satin, some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
A transgender male told me a few years ago that Halloween represented the only day of the year when he could feel normal and no one was judging him. It gave him a chance to experiment publicly in a safe environment before coming to terms with his gender identity. But it’s not all about drag queens and transgender guys. Many closeted gay men and women use the holiday to throw on a simple mask and head to the Halloween festivities in their cities. They want to be around the LGBT community when it’s at its best to see if coming out to this community is the right thing to do.
Sometimes it’s men dressing as women. Other times it’s women dressing as men. In most ways, it’s only people who need to express themselves in their personal style and they can do this freely on Halloween. So, whether you’re a superhero, a Chippendale dancer, or Rosie the Riveter, break out of your old routine and dress to honor those who could not be their true selves for 364 days a year.
They’re the faces of a stranger
But we’d love to try them on