Gaysper is an

LGBT symbol Over the course of its history, the LGBT community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both with ...

based on the ghost

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...

(U+1F47B, "👻") of

Android 5.0 Android Lollipop ( codenamed Android L during development) is the fifth major version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google and the 12th version of Android, spanning versions between 5.0 and 5.1.1. Unveiled on June 25, 2014 ...

. It is a modification of the original icon that uses a background with the colors of the

rainbow flag A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the spectral colors of the visible light spectrum. The LGBT flag introduced in 1978 is the most recognized u ...

. It became popular in Spain from April 2019 following a tweet posted on the official account of the populist right-wing party Vox, after which a multitude of users belonging to the LGBT collective began to use it as a representative symbol of itself. The icon has established itself as an example of the phenomenon of

reappropriation In linguistics, reappropriation, reclamation, or resignification is the cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. It is a specific form of a semantic change (i.e. ...

of elements of the anti-LGBT discourse in contemporary society through social networks.

Origin and popularization

On 28 April 2019,

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

were being held in Spain. The same day, the populist right-wing party Vox shared a controversial tweet in which it invited its voters to vote through the claim "Let the battle begin!". The message was accompanied by a

photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final image ...

Aragorn Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Aragorn was a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Arno ...

, a protagonist of the

Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

saga, in which he appeared facing a crowd of

orcs An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially ''The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugly, a ...

, whose figure had been modified and replaced with symbols contrary to the party's ideology: the feminist symbol, the

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...

, the

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...

and the

Catalan independence The Catalan independence movement ( ca, independentisme català; Spanish: ''independentismo catalán'') is a social and political movement (with roots in Catalan nationalism) which seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain. The beginnings ...

senyera The Senyera (; meaning "pennon", "standard", "banner", "ensign", or, more generically, "flag" in Catalan language, Catalan) is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a yel ...

, several logos of media outlets such as ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' or ''

Cadena SER La Cadena SER (the SER Network) is Spain's premier radio network in terms of both seniority (it was created in 1924) and audience share (it had a regular listenership in 2018 of 4,139,000). The acronym SER stands for ''Sociedad Española de Radi ...

'', the symbol of the

raised fist The raised fist, or the clenched fist, is a long-standing image of mixed meaning, often a symbol of political solidarity. It is also a common symbol of communism, socialism, and other revolutionary social movements. It can also represent a salute ...

, the symbol of the anti-fascist movement and, among them, a modified version of the ghost emoji (👻) of the Android 5.0 version with the colors of the

LGBT flag The rainbow flag, also known as the (gay) pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and the spectrum of human sexuality ...

. The use of the symbol in the tweet met with an initial negative reaction from the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

on Twitter. However, it would later end up using it for the creation of

memes A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

, and finally as a symbol of the collective in a phenomenon of

. The icon would end up being known as Gaysper, in a ''portmanteau'' of the word "gay" and

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio. T ...

; and subsequently spread in press and television. It was shared by popular figures of the Spanish media scene such as Mikel Iturriaga and

Brays Efe Brays Fernández Vidal (born 30 September 1988), best known by the stage name Brays Efe, is a Spanish actor and television personality. He became popular for his role in the comedy web series '' Paquita Salas''. Biography Brays Fernández Vidal w ...

, among others. According to an analysis of the social impact of Gaysper published in February 2021, the icon became the biggest topic of diffusion on the Internet in Spain on the day of its publication.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

would respond to Vox's tweet by stating that its company had not authorized the party to use its copyrighted images. On May 1, 2019, a representation of the icon would appear on an episode of the television program ''

Late Motiv ''Late Motiv'' (also known as ''Late Motiv de Andreu Buenafuente'') is a Spanish late-night talk show hosted by Andreu Buenafuente. It airs on #0, the flagship TV channel of subscription platform Movistar+, and is Buenafuente's first program to ...

'', in which he was "interviewed" by

Andreu Buenafuente Andreu Buenafuente Moreno (born: January 24, 1965) is a Spanish late night show host and founder of the group El Terrat. He has worked in TV3, Antena 3, laSexta and #0. He has also worked as a radio host and has published several books with ...

. His voice was represented by the director of the program, Bob Pop. On May 21, 2019,

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

deputies Felipe Sicilia and Arnau Ramirez would attend a parliamentary session in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

wearing a T-shirt bearing the icon. Different merchandising items of the icon would become popular in the following months, on the occasion of the celebration of the International LGBT Pride Day. Likewise, versions derived from the symbol would become popular with other flags belonging to the collective, such as the

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

or the

bisexual flag The bisexual flag is a pride flag representing bisexuality, bisexual individuals and the bisexual community. The magenta stripe represents attraction to the same sex, while the blue stripe represents attraction to the opposite sex. The purple ...

References

{{Reflist, 2 2019 in Spain Internet memes LGBT culture LGBT symbols LGBT in Spain

Origin and popularization

See also

References