[Pride 2021] Scream Queens and Questioning Teens

Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

In September of 2013, I was down in Indianapolis for the fall edition of Horrorhound Weekend, the horror con that I frequented once or twice a year. I spent the entire weekend down there shopping for goodies, getting autographs, and soaking up the awesomeness that was the Freddy Vs. Jason anniversary gathering and cast panel. 

Outside of the Freddy Vs. Jason cast, another actor related to Freddy Krueger was also in attendance—Mark Patton, the lead in A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. His table was in the side room designated for Mask Fest. A friend I had been walking around with was excited to see that he was there so we made our way over to his table. 

At this time, way back when, I had seen A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 but didn’t really give it much further thought. I had just watched it as I was watching through the entirety of the franchise. I hadn’t thought that it was a bad movie but I had noticed that it was *ahem* well, you know. 

As actors at conventions do, there were 8x10s and posters across his table for fans to choose from to get signed. My eye was drawn to the box at the front corner of his table that was marked for “The Trevor Project”. 

I had become fairly familiar with The Trevor Project mostly because of their social media website, TrevorSpace. It had really become my most-used social media platform for a while. I had taken to being the friend who did their best to give advice to younger members of the LGBTQ+ community who were trying to find themselves and find acceptance…of course me thinking I had myself figured out by that point (in fact, I was far from that because I still don’t have a clue).  

So, I had seen horror movies where you could read into the homoerotic subtext. I can’t tell you how many times eighth-grade me watched The Lost Boys (I was going through my “Vampires are the coolest''/My Chemical Romance period and if you weren’t that person then you know someone who was this person). I had seen Seed Of Chucky with Glen/Glenda, the only bit we’ve gotten that character as of now. But seeing him having a box for The Trevor Project on his table was the first time that I remembered explicitly seeing the LGBTQ+ and horror communities cross in a way where I could actually insert myself into it. It was, quite literally, right there in front of me. 

While I watched my friend got an autograph and picture with Mark, I put a donation into the box as he continued taking pictures with all of us, posing with his clawed Freddy hand. I learned that the Freddy glove he has is of brilliant quality and it actually sharp when it got to be my turn to take pictures with him. When I got back to my hotel room and reviewed the photos from the day, I came to find that my photos with Mark had blurred terribly. 

This flub had really been a blessing in disguise, as I went back to his table the next day, solo. I approached his table and said something like, “I’m not sure if you remember me from yesterday?” and he said something to the tune of, “I wouldn’t forget you.” This was the Sunday of the con and, thus, the slowest day, with attendees and vendors packing up to return to their somewhat normal lives back home that Monday morning. This gave me and Mark more of an opportunity to talk and it was mostly about being not-straight. I would have been 20 at the time and, while I wasn’t really shy about being not-straight, I never really talked about it much. Mark was too good to me and really let my awkwardly spew and ramble about how I had realized at a very young age that I was having childhood crushes on other girls, I was about six years old, and I was really able to sum up my experience with: “I didn’t feel I was wrong until someone else told me it was wrong.”

Jump ahead in time a bit. 

I got to see Mark in-person again, and again in Indianapolis at the same hotel and at the same convention, in 2015. Production had begun on his documentary Scream Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street. The crew was there and was filming around the various A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise cast members and was interviewing fans that had visited Mark’s table. You can see me in a couple of the promotional videos and the end credits of the final product. 

Now, as it says on the login page for TrevorSpace, the platform is for those aged 13-24 and I eventually got an email thanking me for the time I spent there but I was now too old. 

While this year the charity isn’t The Trevor Project, I would be thrilled to write to bring attention to any LGBTQ+ charity or organization, and I hope that we can break the donation record from last year for the Transgender Law Center. Most of the time we see news about the trans community it’s because of something heartbreaking so let’s make it for something positive this time. 

Yeah, this is my first year writing for this but this won’t be my last.