LGBTQ people and young women are astrology's biggest fans, U.S. survey finds
The report, published by Pew Research Center on Wednesday, is based on a nationally representative survey of 9,593 U.S. adults conducted last year.
LGBTQ adults were also three times as likely to consult tarot cards than non-LGBTQ adults (33% vs. 9%), and four times as likely to say they rely 'at least a little' on what they learn from astrology and tarot to make major life decisions (21% vs. 5%), the survey found.
LGBTQ women were more likely than LGBTQ men to consult astrology and tarot at least once a year, at 63% and 40%, respectively.
Younger U.S. women, generally, were more likely to report believing in and consulting astrology, the report found. Nearly half (43%) of younger women, those ages 18 to 49, said they believe in astrology and consult astrology, compared with 27% of women 50 and older, 20% of men ages 18 to 49, and 15% of men 50 or older.
The results might not surprise some members of the queer community, whose interest in astrology has been well-documented on social media and in dozens of books and articles. In fact, Netflix on Wednesday released the full cast of the upcoming second season of 'The Ultimatum: Queer Love,' a popular reality show about queer couples in which one member of the couple has given the other an ultimatum to get married, and each cast member's personal information includes their astrological sign.
Pew Research Center noted in its report that 'there is limited academic research on the topic' of why LGBTQ people are more interested in astrology, but that 'media publications focused on LGBTQ+ issues have described the prevalence of New Age practices in the LGBTQ+ community.' Some queer people who grew up in unsupportive religious communities have also written about how astrology provided them with a daily practice similar to religion.
Some religious adults were more likely to consult astrology, the report found. Those who were among the most likely to say they consult it at least annually were Hispanic Catholics (39%), Black Protestants (33%) and adults who say their religion is 'nothing in particular' (35%).
White evangelicals and atheists were among the groups most likely to say they never consult astrology, horoscopes, tarot cards or fortune tellers, the report found.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
2 days ago
- Times
How to erase the misery of student loneliness
T here are many implausible things about the Netflix campus romance My Oxford Year — an American visits the dreaming spires and falls for her handsome, castle-dwelling, cancer-stricken tutor — but perhaps the most unlikely part is the way new students confidently start chatting on first meeting. In my experience, they are more likely to stare intently at their shoes or phones in awkward silence, especially the boys. The real story is that many feel deeply lonely during their degrees, as several polls and studies confirm. A bit of future loneliness may not seem like a big deal to parents facing the ordeal of A-level results day this week, more concerned about whether their offspring will get to university at all. They probably assume things haven't much changed since their own time spent propping up the student bar; that eventually all but the most antisocial are bound to make friends. But in fact, quite a lot has changed — even leaving aside the negative effects of smartphones or lockdowns on burgeoning social skills.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Shropshire man says being gay he felt an imposter in farming
"As a gay person, living rurally, if I'm going to work on a farm – historically you've got to imagine it as a very heterosexual environment – I feel like an imposter coming in."Shropshire farmer Gareth Hales Povey had worked in hospitality for a number of years and felt nervous about making the career the dairy farmer, from Calverhall, who currently works at Harper Adams University, found the charity Shropshire Rural also a volunteer at the charity, Mr Hales Povey said support from its staff gave him the confidence to give farming a try and he has not looked back. The charity provides a confidential service for farmers and their families during periods of anxiety and stress. 'Stop overthinking things' He said completing his first shift had felt like a huge achievement, adding that everybody he had encountered on the farm had been accepting and welcoming."It was more my issue going in," he said. "Scenarios running through my head, overthinking about what would happen."As a gay person, there's always that element of wherever we are in life we kind of weigh up the scene, where we are."He said farming was perceived as being one of the most macho and heterosexual industries."My perception was I'm the first one, turns out I wasn't the first one," he said. "There was a group of us, which was lovely."He is now using his experiences to help others going through similar issues."I was thrilled to be able to give some of my life experiences and wisdom on entering farming as a new profession," Mr Hales Povey said. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Metro
4 days ago
- Metro
I survived a nuclear bomb - this is what it felt like
'I didn't hear any sound. The world around me turned bright white. Immediately after that, the blast came.' These are the words of Yoshito Matsushige, who was 32 and living in Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945. He was at home, nearly two miles away from the blast centre, when the first atomic bomb detonated at 8.14 am. The clear blue skies on that morning suddenly turned a sickly shade of purple and grey after the bomb was dropped, marking a dangerous new time in human history: the nuclear age. Days later, a second would explode in Nagasaki, 250 miles south. Warning leaflets had been dropped on both cities before the detonation, but were widely confiscated by authorities, leaving locals widely unaware of the horrors which awaited them. It's been 80 years since the world changed. The few remaining survivors of the blasts in Japan are entering the twilight of their lives and telling their testimonies to ensure the horrors which they witnessed never repeat themselves. Yoshito, who died aged 92 in 2005, struggled with his emotions to capture the only known photographs of the aftermath of Hiroshima. But eight decades after the bombs went off, talks of potential nuclear attacks are still dominating news headlines. 'Average citizens are the primary victims of war, always,' Nagasaki survivor Takato Michishita told TIME. 'Dear young people who have never experienced the horrors of war – I fear that some of you may be taking this hard-earned peace for granted.' 'I had finished breakfast and was getting ready to go to the newspaper when it happened. There was a flash from the indoor wires as if lightning had struck. I didn't hear any sound. The world around me turned bright white. Immediately after that, the blast came.' Yoshito said: 'I was bare from the waist up, and the blast was so intense, it felt like hundreds of needles were stabbing me all at once. I pulled my camera and the clothes issued by the military headquarters out from under the mound of debris, and I got dressed.' He wandered towards the Miyuki bridge, where many victims, mostly junior high girls from nearby schools, had gathered after being told to evacuate buildings. Towards the end of the Second World War, the United States was desperate to end the conflict by whatever means necessary. Their solution was to drop two nuclear bombs, never before used in human history, on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Both cities were vital points for military and industrial reasons – striking them would bring Japan to its knees, Americans hoped, forcing it to surrender and end the war. The bombs did end the war, but their use has been questioned ever since. Was it necessary to kill that many people and use a weapon of mass destruction? He added: 'Having been directly exposed to the heat rays, they were covered with blisters, the size of balls, on their backs, their faces, their shoulders and their arms. The blisters were starting to burst open, and their skin hung down like rugs. Some of the children even have burns on the soles of their feet. They'd lost their shoes and run barefoot through the burning fire.' 70,000 were killed instantly in Hiroshima. By the end of the year, more than 150,000 deaths were recorded in total from radiation poisoning and injuries. Fujio Torikoshi was just over a mile away from the blast, eating breakfast with his mum, when he heard a plane. He wandered outside to look but saw nothing. He said: 'Bewildered, I glanced to the northeast. I saw a black dot in the sky. Suddenly, it 'burst' into a ball of blinding light that filled my surroundings. 'A gust of hot wind hit my face; I instantly closed my eyes and knelt down to the ground. As I tried to gain footing, another gust of wind lifted me up, and I hit something hard. I do not remember what happened after that. 'When I finally came to, I was passed out in front of a bouka suisou (stone water container used to extinguish fires back then). Suddenly, I felt an intense burning sensation on my face and arms, and tried to dunk my body into the bouka suisou. 'The water made it worse. I heard my mother's voice in the distance. 'Fujio! Fujio!' I clung to her desperately as she scooped me up in her arms. 'It burns, mama! It burns!' News of the horrific attack had spread through Japan, but it wasn't known just how bad the damage was. There had been no air raid alarms that morning, but Shigek Matsumoto, then 11, had been hiding in a local bomb shelter with her siblings for days. 'The sky turned bright white,' she recalled. She was knocked off her feet, unaware of what had happened until scores of burn victims came hobbling towards the shelter. 'Their skin had peeled off their bodies and faces and hung limply down on the ground, in ribbons. Their hair was burnt down to a few measly centimetres from the scalp,' she recalled. As soon as the first bomb detonated in Hiroshima, 70,000 died instantly. The death toll rose to 140,000 by the end of the year. In Nagasaki, 40,000 died instantly. Later, the toll rose to around 70,000 from those who died from injuries and radiation exposure. In total, the nuclear bombs killed an estimated 250,000 people and left thousands of others with long-term conditions. 'Many of the victims collapsed as soon as they reached the bomb shelter entrance, forming a massive pile of contorted bodies. The stench and heat were unbearable.' Survivor Kayano Nagai saw the atomic bomb in Nagasaki when she was just four years old. 'I remember the cicadas chirping. The atom bomb was the last thing that happened in the war, and no more bad things have happened since then, but I don't have my Mummy any more.' Nearly half of the city was destroyed. Nagasaki was, quite literally, a nuclear wasteland. Rescue and medical care were nearly impossible. Roughly 100,000 survivors of the atomic bombings are still alive today. 'It's more important than ever that we listen to the remaining survivors,' Florian Eblenkamp, advocacy officer with The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) told Metro. 'Their message is clear: these weapons must be abolished. If we want to honour their legacy, that's what we should focus on. We can't continue to gamble with the fate of humanity.' One of the forgotten details of the bombings in Japan is that of the thousands killed, 38,000 were children. Nuclear weapons and the threats they carry are seen by most as an abstract idea – a far-fetched, last-ditch option in conflict. Florian argues the most significant message to remember on the 80th anniversary is that these weapons are not abstract, deterrents or a political pawns. 'These are big bombs that kill for generations and whose effects are so widespread that they don't stop at national borders,' he said. Today, the city appears to be a bustling area full of life. Aya Fujioka, a photographer, told the Guardian that children are seen dancing in the street in a carefree manner, swimmers are seen freely paddling in the city's six rivers and people are often spotted praying as an 'everyday gesture'. According to the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), radiation levels in Hiroshima are nearly indistinguishable from natural background radiation levels anywhere on earth. As decades have passed since the attack, residents and visitors can go to the city without fear of being poisoned by any nuclear radiation. Following the bombing, the city established the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in the city as a way to mark the city's past. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. Fabio Crispim, SEO journalist at Metro, visited the city three months ago. He said: 'Turning out of one of Hiroshima's busiest shopping avenues into the empty and quiet Hiroshima memorial park was a striking experience, but even more so was standing up close to the Atomic Bomb Done, where hundreds died. 'Still standing after 80 years as a stark reminder of the dangers of war, seeing the ruins and the rubble left behind led my friends and I to reflect on the loss of lives and the long-lasting impact it's had on the world. It's something I fear we've forgotten, and something I wish more could see.' Inside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the city, there is a marking on some steps of the former entrance to the Sumitomo Bank. It is believed to be a shadow of a person who was sitting at the entrance on the morning of August 6 at the time the atomic bomb was dropped. Researchers said that the person would have died instantly, suffering severe burning. While the victim's identity remains unknown, it is believed the person who was sat there was a 42-year-old woman named Mitsuno Ochi. Nuclear threats continue even now. This week, Russia issued a warning to the world after Trump deployed nuclear submarines in the region of Russia. After being told to 'watch his words' by Trump, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev shocked many when he reminded the US of Russia's nuclear strike capabilities. 'Remember how dangerous the fabled 'Dead Hand' can be,' Medvedev wrote on Telegram, referencing Soviet-era Doomsday nuclear weapons. In June, the UK announced it was buying a dozen F-35A warplanes – all capable of carrying nuclear weapons – from the US, following criticism from Donald Trump that Nato members are not spending enough on defence. Other countries are continuing to build their nuclear arsenal and carry out test launches. Last year, North Korea carried out the country's longest ballistic missile test, with a flight time of 87 minutes, while warning its 'enemies' of attack. For the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world stopped in August 1945. But the world is advancing its nuclear programmes, using the threat of these weapons of mass destruction as pawns in political games. More Trending Florian explained: 'We need to reject this idea that weapons of mass destruction are necessary for a country's defence. But look at the reality of the world: many of the countries that have nuclear weapons or are now involved in active conflict. 'Possessing nuclear weapons doesn't guarantee peace in your country. It's naive to think that you can just continue possessing nuclear weapons and nothing will happen.' Experts now say the risk of nuclear war is higher than ever, Florian says, and the world is now at a critical crossroads. 'We have to decide: is this a stable model for international geopolitics, or is it time to face the truth and reject these weapons as too dangerous to handle by anyone?' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: The viral Lucia Striped Table Lamp from Dush is back in-stock – and costs £35 MORE: Security video shows Olympic gold medallist attacking boyfriend at airport MORE: Grab £245 worth of beauty icons for £65 in LOOKFANTASTIC's newest beauty box
