The trouble with most holidays and festivals is that they are so damn heterocentric. Santa Claus may live alone at the North Pole with a shed full of elves, but there's no denying that he's straight. The Easter Bunny minces around dispensing pastel-coloured eggs to everyone but he couldn't be more sexless and really, when it comes to the crunch, he's no gay icon. Halloween, on the other hand, has it all: cross-dressing, lesbian vampires and some rather dark psychology. Here's ten reasons why 31 October is the gayest date in the year.

1. Dressing Up
No other occasion comes close in offering so many opportunities to cross-dress, it should be renamed the International Drag Queen Day. If you're a guy who wants to run down the street in high heels and a pencil skirt, tonight's the night to do it.

2. Vampiros Lesbos
Scratch the surface of any vampire movie or television programme and I guarantee you will find at least one sexually rapacious lesbian. From 1970s schlock horrors to Buffy and The Hunger, they're all at it!

3. Party Time
Queers love to have a party and Halloween provides everything you need to make it swing: outrageous outfits, long dark nights, the release of inhibitions and, er, the demented sugar rush you get after eating too many sweets.

4. Home Improvements
Whilst it's true that the roving homosexual needs few excuses to indulge in a spot of interior design, Halloween allows us all to go crazy with those difficult colour combinations we usually leave well alone: pumpkin orange, death black, slime green and zombie white.

5. Psychology 1
Not that I want to get too deep, but you can't help seeing Halloween as a metaphor far gay life. Like ghosts we are outcasts from society, creatures of the night destined to roam the foetid backstreets in search of prey, blah blah… (Ed – that's enough!)

6. Psychology 2
Okay, so the outcast thing is a bit strong but Halloween does give some nasty, ruthless and evil-minded gay people a license to have some fun scaring the straights by ramming our unearthly lifestyles down their throats. It's better than Pride!

7. Goth Meltdown
Halloween is the one night of the year where goth fashion rules. Don't hold back on the black nail varnish, honey, and remember that this is one of the few occasions where people won't laugh at you when you parade that McQueen jumpsuit you paid thousands for.

8. Walking on the Wild Side
Halloween gives heterosexuals the chance to cross over to our side of the street for a bit. Some may deny snogging you the next day but, rest assured, some will stay. Think of it as a recruitment drive.

9. Carrie, the Official Gay Halloween Horror Film
You know that bit in the film where Sissy Spacek's at the dance trying to get away from her crazy mother, and the bucket of blood gets tipped on her and she flips out and kills all her vile and super-straight schoolmates with her spooky powers? Hasn't every gay person felt like that at least once in their lives?

10. Sweets
Gay people are always on diets, always at the gym, always buffing, toning and tanning. Halloween is a thankful respite from all that and gives even the most muscled mary the excuse to gorge themselves stupid on sweeties. Trick or treat!

Now you've checked out why Halloween's the gayest holiday ever, take a look at our articles on Gay Celebrity Horror Flicks, Top Ten: Scariest Gays Ever, Global Halloween and our Halloween Quiz!