The 21 Gayest Christmas Songs

Last week an elementary school teacher in Michigan came under fire when she decided to remove the word "gay" from the classic Christmas carol "Deck The Halls."

She claimed that the word made her students giggle and that it quickly became a distraction for the first and second graders she teaches. After parents and others in the community got wind of the change -- and outrage ensued -- the teacher re-inserted the supposedly troublesome word back into the song.

We here at HuffPost Gay Voices believe that when people are afraid of or uncomfortable with LGBT people or issues or even words (whether or not the word in question is actually being used in relation to the LGBT community), sometimes the best tactic is push for an even greater presence in hopes of showing we won't be intimidated, deterred, or erased.

So, we dug through our record collections (and YouTube) -- to find the gayest Christmas songs we could get our hands (and ears) on in a lighthearted effort to make things a little merrier -- and gayer -- this December.

From campy offerings from The Weather Girls and Lady Gaga to songs by gay artists and icons like George Michael and Dolly Parton, this is our little gift to you this holiday season -- and the perfect playlist for a festive gay get-together.

Check out our selections in the following slideshow, rank them from corniest to most classic, and tell us if we missed one of your favorites in the comments section below.