It’s appreciation of a horror movie that turned into whisper of a joke that is now a well-established meme.

The Babadook’s rise to queer legend is a remarkable one. “While I must make it clear that I was not the first to acknowledge the Babadook's burgeoning status as a queer icon, I do count myself among the most vocal supporters of the movement to recognize the Babadook as a radical representation of queerness.” “Haunting a small white family in an Australian suburb is a radical act, and the Babadook did that,” John Paul Brammer, a journalist and queer Babadook enthusiast, told me. Its existence is defiance, and it seeks to break down the borders of acceptability and establishment. Mister Babadook, as the figure is referred to in the movie, is queer in the most empirical sense. But while its anointment as an icon might be less straightforward, the Babadook’s status as an LGBTQ hero is ultimately no less valid. Like the icons who came before him, the Babadook’s story is one of hardship, endurance, and queer protest - though that might not be immediately apparent. Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and Carly Rae Jepsen make music that brings joy to their fans. Cher and Dolly Parton endured struggle and hardship, but have never stopped working. David Bowie and George Michael showed us how to live free before they died. Bea Arthur and Elizabeth Taylor were allies to the LGBTQ community, as talented as they were selfless. Judy Garland’s death is apocryphally cited as inspiration for the Stonewall Riots. Pop-culture LGBTQ heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but those who join the pantheon of legends are often revolutionary, sometimes tragic figures who inspire the community regardless of their professed sexual orientation. There are two types of people in this world: People who know that the Babadook - the namesake of the acclaimed 2014 Australian horror film - is a queer icon, and people who will soon find out that the Babadook is a queer icon.

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