Three Scandals Walk into a Gay Bar

by Amber Dunton

"I hate gay Halloween, wdym you're..." was a viral TikTok trend in 2025, highlighting how queer culture and Halloween collide to create a counter-cultural costuming movement, using the one day a year dedicated to disguising one's identity to celebrate queer culture, and protest a society that, year-'round, pushes queer identity to the shadows. In a historic year for American politics, one fraught with problems...

"I hate gay Halloween, wdym you're..." was a viral TikTok trend in 2025, highlighting how queer culture and Halloween collide to create a counter-cultural costuming movement, using the one day a year dedicated to disguising one's identity to celebrate queer culture, and protest a society that, year-'round, pushes queer identity to the shadows. In a historic year for American politics, one fraught with problems within every aspect of American society, for one night we shut them out and celebrate, even if only for 10 minutes.

"Three Scandals Walk into a Gay Bar" takes place during the final round of the 2025 Halloween costume contest at Dorothy's on Liberty, a historic Naval gay bar in Adams Morgan, DC. The three finalists– David dressed as Armie Hammer dressed as Hannibal Lecter, Sam as a slutty Watergate scandal, and Mandy as a hot Toulmouche's "Reluctant Bride–" give their eleventh-hour speeches to drunken crowd to determine who wins the money. A bartender at Dorothy's and drag queen, Dublin Peach Mint, serves as the emcee and clap-o-meter judge– ultimately determining who wins. In an uncomfortable 10-minutes, three drunken, kinda-shitty, but wholly human strangers fight for the winning spot, as a not-drunk, but also kinda shitty and wholly human, bartender emcees, trying to not get the Instagram live taken down for violating the terms of service in the process.

As the characters spill the tea, the audience realizes their costumes are the least scandalous thing in Washington that night. Oh, and, on your way home, make sure to remember those third amendment rights...

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Three Scandals Walk into a Gay Bar

Character Information

  • MANDY
    a baddie queer woman or somewhat feminine-presenting nonbinary person (any race, though ideally a woman of color) dressed as the Toulmouche painting, The Reluctant Bride.
    20s-30s
    Female,
    Assigned female at birth
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Non-binary,
      Woman
  • DAVID
    a non-latino gay man or masculine-presenting nonbinary person dressed as Armie Hammer dressed as Hannibal Lecter in reference to the 2021 pop-culture scandal.
    20s
    Any -- not Latino
    Male,
    Masc
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Asian, Pacific Islander, or Asian American,
      Black, African, Caribbean, or African American,
      Indigenous, First Nation, or Native American,
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander,
      South Asian or South Asian American,
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Man,
      Non-binary
  • SAM
    a white or “white-passing” queer person, perhaps with a gender, dressed as the Watergate Scandal.
    20s-early 30s
    White,
    White
    Any,
    Gender non-conforming
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      White
  • EMCEE
    a bartender at Dorothy's and drag queen, Dublin Peach Mint, who emcees the costume contest. Can be played as an onstage character or an offstage voice.
    of bartending age
    Male,
    Male presenting
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Man,
      Non-binary