There’s a reason you can’t go to a gay bar without someone asking for your sign or why your lesbian friend keeps offering to give you a tarot card reading. Queer adults are more likely to consult astrology or horoscopes, and they’re also more likely to believe in them.
Over half of LGBTQ+ Americans (54 percent) consult astrology or horoscopes at least yearly, according to a May survey from the Pew Research Center. This is nearly twice the percentage of the general U.S. adult population (28 percent). Another 33 percent of LGBTQ+ adults said they consult tarot cards, three times as much as U.S. adults overall (11 percent).
Younger adults and younger women were also more likely to believe in astrology and to consult horoscopes. Approximately 43 percent of women ages 18 to 49 said they believe in astrology, compared to 27 percent of women ages 50 and older, 20 percent of men ages 18 to 49, and 16 percent of men ages 50 and older. This trend continued among LGBTQ+ people, considering queer women were more likely than queer men to consult astrology at least yearly (63 percent compared to 40 percent).
More women and queer people believe in astrology than men and straight-identifying people.
More than one in five LGBTQ+ adults (21 percent) said they rely “at least a little” on astrology, horoscopes, tarot cards, or fortune tellers when making major life decisions, which is “considerably larger than the share of any other demographic subgroup that says this,” Pew’s analysis notes. Only 1 percent of U.S. adults overall said they rely “a lot” on these practices for major life decisions, and just 5 percent say they rely “a little” on them.
In the overall population, 30 percent of all U.S. adults reported consulting astrology, horoscopes, tarot cards, or fortune tellers at least once a year. Twenty percent said they engage in the practices “just for fun,” while 10 percent said they do it because they “believe the practices give them helpful insights.”
Queer adults “stand out,” the report states, as they are the “most likely of all the demographic subgroups analyzed in the survey to say they consult fortune tellers, tarot cards, or horoscopes to obtain helpful insights.”
This article is part of The Advocate's Sept/Oct 2025 issue, now on newsstands. Support queer media and subscribe — or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader.
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