Hello and happy Pride from the Venus Gays! Pride Month is somehow coming to a close already (insert contrived turn of phrase about the rapidly accelerating perception of time here). While this is certainly a month of celebration, Pride is first and foremost a protest against capitalist, heteronormative, patriarchal bullshit. In New York City, where we live, the first Pride march was an unsanctioned demonstration to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Many of the most notable events throughout LGBTQ+ history have carried that same spirit.
As your favorite queer astrologers, we figured it was our duty to explore the astrology of some of the most important moments in the contemporary fight for LGBTQ+ acceptance and liberation. Below, we’ve identified a few pivotal political actions (out of so many, in the United States and beyond) spearheaded by our queer and trans ancestors, and highlighted some noteworthy astrological transits associated with these moments in time.
A quick disclaimer: We’re discussing the astrology surrounding these landmark political actions to contextualize the historical circumstances that precipitated and followed them. As astrologers, we believe in the maxim as above, so below — in other words, the movements of the planets in the sky are a reflection of what’s happening in our mundane world. We are not discrediting or taking power away from the trailblazing activists who made these protests and Pride rallies possible. The planets don’t spark protests; people do.
The Stonewall Uprising (June 28, 1969)
Noteworthy astrology: Sun in Cancer, Mercury in Gemini opposing Mars in Sagittarius, Pluto in Virgo approaching the South Node
Sterling: The Stonewall Uprising, colloquially referred to as simply “Stonewall,” was a series of protests that took place immediately following a police raid of The Stonewall Inn in New York City on the night of June 28, 1969. Police raids on gay and lesbian bars were incredibly common, as any public or explicit display of queer desire was illegal at the time. But this was the last straw. The people at Stonewall had had enough, and trans women and drag queens led the fight against oppression that evening (and in the years to come.) In the days that followed, queer folks around the neighborhood organized and took to the streets, demanding the same right to exist as their hetero counterparts. This demonstration led to the creation of more LGBTQ+ organizations around the world, all fighting for the right to live and love without fear or compromise.
Stonewall wasn’t the only radical moment of change happening that summer. Humans put their feet on the surface of the moon. The infamous Woodstock festival took place in upstate New York. The Stonewall Uprising provided momentum for other protests around the U.S. and the globe. These events took place under a tense opposition between Mercury and Mars. In Gemini and Sagittarius respectively, this opposition breeds inflammation. The tensions sparked under these conditions expand and become visible. There’s a reason why the Summer of ‘69 has stood out in the history books.
Pluto also played a hand in this period, nearing a conjunction with the South Node. This alignment often manifests as a clearing of decay. Pluto alchemizes what the South Node identifies as tired and played out. This conjunction was a moment when the world said, “The old way of doing things can go fuck itself.” Our queer ancestors were never going to hide in the shadows again.
National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights (October 14, 1979)
Noteworthy astrology: Sun-Pluto conjunction in Libra, Saturn in Virgo, Jupiter-North Node conjunction in Virgo, Uranus in Scorpio
Sam: Ten years after Stonewall, a sprawling collective of LGBTQ+ activists organized a rally for their rights in a locale that federal officials simply could not ignore: the U.S. capital. Up to 100,000 LGBTQ+ Americans and allies descended upon Washington, D.C. in October 1979 for the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Their list of demands included “a comprehensive lesbian/gay rights bill in Congress” — a form of legal protection contemporary LGBTQ+ activists are still fighting for to this day.
On October 14, 1979, the Sun was separating from an exact conjunction with Pluto in Libra. Pluto governs deep transformation, imbalances of power, and large-scale events; in Libra, a social Air sign concerned with fairness and diplomacy, it serves as an equalizing force. Since Pluto moves very slowly, we tend to feel its energy most tangibly when it is activated by transiting planets — including the Sun, whose bright rays can illuminate even the most buried Plutonian power struggles and injustices.
This conjunction occurred in the U.S.’s 11th House, the domain of friendships, alliances, and organizations. It’s all very “power to the people” — a vibe reiterated by transiting Saturn in Virgo weighing down America’s 10th House of public image, legacy, and authority figures. Saturn simultaneously forms a sextile to Uranus, the planet of radical change and unexpected shake-ups.
With Jupiter, the planet of plenty, also in Virgo and applying to conjoin the North Node, the growth potential — for new laws safeguarding LGBTQ+ rights, for greater social acceptance of queer and trans Americans — was there. But it would require a fundamental shift in how hegemonic political and cultural institutions viewed queer and trans people. And that would require shedding light on the stigmas and legal inequities queer Americans faced each and every day.
Formation of ACT UP (March 12, 1987)
Noteworthy astrology: Sun in Pisces, Mars in Taurus, Jupiter in Aries, Pluto in Scorpio
Sterling: ACT UP, or the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, is a group that was formed out of necessity and queer rage.
The founders of ACT UP, including writer Larry Kramer, were disgusted by the U.S. government’s failure to recognize or intervene in any meaningful way in the AIDS epidemic. These activists formed a group that would hold demonstrations and bring public pressure on the institutions of power — government, religion, drug companies, etc. — to stop the disease from spreading. While certainly not the only group whose aim was to bring about the end of the disease, it has gone down in history as one of the most influential.
On the day ACT UP was founded, Jupiter’s presence in Aries can’t go unnoticed. As a sign of both self empowerment and being a champion for those who can’t speak for themselves, Aries provided the perfect backdrop for the creation of one of the most powerful and disruptive HIV/AIDS activist organizations. The government was literally leaving our queer ancestors to die so it was up to our community to make the world pay attention, and to champion their own survival.
Mars, the planet of anger and action, was in Taurus at this time. Mars represents our individual and collective potential energy, our capacity to stand up and show up for ourselves. At the same time, Pluto was slowly moving through Scorpio, deconstructing and transforming things hidden beneath the surface. On the axis of life and death (Taurus and Scorpio), Mars ignited our ancestors’ will to live and provided more stable footing for organizations like ACT UP to begin taking root in the public consciousness. In a staunch opposition, Mars and Pluto sparked the flames of war in a fight for survival.
Inaugural Dyke March (April 24, 1993)
Noteworthy astrology: Venus in Aries, Mars in Cancer, Saturn in Aquarius squaring Pluto in Scorpio, Uranus in Capricorn
Sam: America’s first Dyke March — a protest centering lesbians and other queer women — took place in Washington, D.C. on April 24, 1993, the evening before that year’s March on Washington. Its organizers hailed from different cities across the U.S., but the New York Lesbian Avengers were responsible for the logistics. The march kicked off at 5PM local time, and participants walked from Dupont Circle all the way to National Mall. That inaugural Dyke March inspired similar protests in cities throughout the U.S., including New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Many are organized annually to this day.
At the risk of restating the obvious: We have a timed chart for the first Dyke March (!!!) A 5PM kick-off puts the Ascendant in Libra conjunct lucky Jupiter. It makes sense that a whopping 20,000 dykes participated. The march’s organizers had some cosmic Miracle-Gro on their side.
Since we’re talking about dykes, we have to look at Venus’s placement in the chart. The planet of love, beauty, and femininity is in Aries, the sign of her Detriment. To me, this debilitated Venus reflects how many dykes embody womanhood or femininity in an unconventional way. Shaved heads, hairy legs, conventionally masculine clothing — these stereotypically “lesbian” styles reject patriarchal beauty standards as a means of communicating queerness. That was an especially brave thing to do in the ‘90s, when few LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination protections existed.
Venus forms an out-of-sign trine to a late-degree Mars in Cancer. Since she’s in Aries, Venus is using Mars’s tools. I love this interplay between two historically gendered planets in signs where they struggle. It’s a trine, so it’s fundamentally supportive of action (Mars) through unification (Venus), but it also emphasizes the gendered nature* of Dyke March’s politics.
Dyke March is my favorite event every Pride because it remains a protest through and through. Organizers don’t obtain police permits or entertain corporate sponsors. I see this firm stance articulated clearly in the tense square between Saturn in Aquarius and Pluto in Scorpio, a defining transit of ’93. If Saturn represents The Establishment™️, then Pluto is the disenfranchised masses challenging the status quo. They’re supported by a sextile from innovative Uranus in Capricorn, which promotes structural change through radical means. And what could be more radical than a sea of dykes flooding city streets?
*To be clear: Women aren’t the only dykes out there. Plenty of nonbinary and gender non-conforming people also identify as dykes. But we live in a patriarchal society, so we can never fully divorce a dyke-centric protest from gender politics.
Sam: Happy Pride, friends. We hope you enjoyed our astrological takes on some landmark protests throughout LGBTQ+ history.
I’m reminded of a recent Instagram post by astrologer Jo O’Neill, who said, “One of astrology’s many gifts is that of retrospection.” When we examine how past transits manifested personally or collectively, we engage in a time-honored tradition of reflection through the lens of astrology. This process can deepen your astrological studies and enrich your understanding of yourself and the events that have shaped your life.
Recommended Reading:
LGBTQ+ History
Astrology
Ghost of a Podcast’s episode on queering astrology
LGBTQ&A’s interview with Chani Nicholas
Queer Cosmos by Colin Bedell
Postcolonial Astrology by Alice Sparkly Kat