If you can believe it, my fellow horror fans, it’s Pride Month once again. And with the dawn of June, I want to share a piece of poetry from acclaimed singer-songwriter Elizabeth Eden Harris, also known as Cupcakke:

F**k out my way when you see me
I’m rollin’ with the LGBT

Because really, we at Horror Press have a lot of love for the queer community. And we’re not just saying that because it’s June; we’re not a cookie brand or your bank slapping performative rainbow stickers on everything. We don’t have anything to sell you other than our genuine love for horror, and by extension, love for all the queer fans out there.

The truth of the matter is horror itself, let alone the horror community, would be nothing without its numerous queer members. Queer fans make up a significant chunk of the community. Creators like Clive Barker, and of course my favorite Don Mancini, have their experiences and creative processes framed and defined by queerness, which gives their works a whole other dimension of emotional and textual depth. And as a result, so much of the horror we watch has a whole cavalcade of fascinating and fandom-worthy queer characters that we want to shout out.

So, we’re going to do just that, with your help!

You know that every month we need to have a survey here at Horror Press (which you can fill out down below), and this contest will be asking the horror community which queer horror icons reign supreme in your hearts. By the end of it, we’ll have a list with those voted top 5, and a matching article all about them. In a first for these contests, we will also be adding an option to submit a brief note on what the queer icons you’ve picked mean to you. So, if you’ve got some strong feelings about Jennifer & Needy like I know so many of you do, I’d suggest you put them down here for a chance to be featured in the results article!

Unlike our previous contests, there’s no time for rules and hair-splitting outside of the usual fact that they need to be from movies and television. Aside from my inputs, we also had a special council of ghouls, goblins and other assorted creatures of the night write-in members on the list of queer significance. So, without further ado, here is the list of contestants in no particular order:

1. Jesse Walsh (Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge)
2. Pinhead (Hellraiser Series)
3. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
4. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
5. Irena (The Cat People (1942))
6. Lestat (Interview with the Vampire (1994))
7. Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet
8. Bride of Frankenstein (Bride of Frankenstein (1935))
9. The Babadook (The Babadook)
10. Tiffany Valentine (Child’s Play/Chucky Series)
11. Deena (Fear Street Series)
12. Jennifer & Needy (Jennifer’s Body)
13. Glen/Glenda (Seed of Chucky)
14. Bobby McCoy (Blacula (1972))
15. Miriam Blaylock (The Hunger)
16. Liz Taylor (American Horror Story: Hotel)
17. Countess Marya Zaleska (Dracula’s Daughter)
18. Theo (Haunting of Hill House)
19. Mary Lou (Prom Night 2 (’87))
20. Byron (Tammy and the T-Rex)
21. The Xenomorph (Alien Series)
22. Barbara Coard (Black Christmas (1974))
23. Aaron (Clive Barker’s Nightbreed)
24. May (May 2002)
25. Lafayette Reynolds (True Blood)

We’ll see you at the end of the month for the results. We hope to see a lot of responses, so get on into the survey below and vote!

VOTING HAS ENDED!