Babadook

The Babadook is the monster from the 2014 Australian horror film of the same name, which explores grief and repression. It became an unlikely queer icon through the internet. The joke traces to a 2016 Tumblr post insisting the Babadook was gay, and it spread widely in 2017 after screenshots circulated showing the film mistakenly filed under "LGBT Movies" in Netflix's categories. Fans embraced the absurdity, reading the creature's black cloak and theatrical menace as camp and casting it as a proud, if terrifying, member of the community. The bit became a fixture of queer internet humor, showed up on Pride signs and merchandise, and is one example of how LGBTQ+ people claim playful, unexpected symbols as their own.