Lee Lehman Draws Parallels Between Astrologers and Gays

Lee Lehman Draws Parallels Between Astrologers and Gays

Posted by Chris Brennan on Friday, December 5 20087 Comments

Lee Lehman gave an interesting speech at a recent Kepler College graduation ceremony in Seattle in October in which she drew parallels between the astrological community and the gay community, arguing that astrologers face a similar type of political discrimination as gays do.

During the course of the speech she pointed out a number of parallels between the two communities, and argued that astrologers share the same sort of mentality as gays did 40 years ago with respect to what they do, and what their place is in society:

One of the major problems with astrology is that astrologers themselves do not recognize that the status of astrology is a political issue, and that the position of astrologers in our society is completely analogous to the position of gay people before Stonewall.

The 1969 Stonewall riots are commonly seen as a turning point for the gay community , because they acted as a starting point for the gay rights movement. Lee goes on to raise the question

Is the astrological community like the gay community before Stonewall, and, if so, what does this mean for the future of astrology?

She then proceeded to outline the parallels between the astrological and gay communities, all of which she later argues are tell-tale signs of political discrimination:

You generally cannot spot an astrologer on the street. Thus, talking about ‘coming out’ about one’s interest in astrology is a completely comprehensible concept.
There is a substantial conservative religious community reviles both homosexuals and astrologers. Thus, the practice of either could be considered to be a ’sin’.
An astrologer may find it difficult to tell his or her family, friends, etc.
An astrologer could lose face in social circles for admitting interest in astrology.
An astrologer could be harassed or even arrested.
An astrologer could observe parents stopping their children from trick-or-treating at the astrologer’s house.
An astrologer could experience job discrimination or delays in promotion because of his or her’s interests, and this is legal because belief in astrology is not something for which there are anti-discrimination statutes.
The naming of astrological organizations using euphemisms, like ‘geocosmic’.

In the end Lee draws the conclusion based on these parallels that this is indeed “discrimination at its ugliest.”

Lee then goes on to argue that astrologers are acting like gays before Stonewall in refusing to admit that this is a political issue, or that it has a political dimension. While she admits that the issue is much more trivial than other forms of discrimination, such as discrimination against African Americans or women for example, she argues that it still leads to a type of abuse through both hatred on the part of non-astrologers, and even self-hatred on the part of astrologers. She asks

How can we expect to develop a true profession in an environment where a substantial number of practitioners are afraid to admit what they do to a stranger? How can we move forward when we feel compelled to accept every crumb of coverage from the news media, no matter how biased or sniggering?

Lee then concludes the speech with a sort of call to action on the part of the astrological community, with the first step being self-acceptance:

When will astrology begin its march toward political acceptance, and how will it happen? I don’t know. But, long term, if Kepler College is to succeed, then happen it must. The absence of freedom is tyranny, and as a liberal arts institution we are devoted to the arts of free men and women. How can we teach and manifest those arts when we ourselves are not free, or at least attempting to free ourselves?

I thought that it was a really interesting and thought provoking speech, and many of the parallels that she drew were pretty accurate for many people I know in the astrological community. What do you think?

Here is a full video clip of the speech from YouTube:

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7 Comments »

Lynn Hayes said:

Great post Chris, and one that will be a topic on my site today. The obvious connection here is Uranus, which rules over both astrologers and gays.

- December 7 2008 at 8:13 am

Chris Brennan (author) said:

Thanks Lynn! Credit goes to Lee though, since I’m mainly just paraphrasing her speech here in order to draw attention to it.

- December 7 2008 at 3:07 pm

whall said:

The world will wake up. I just don’t know if it’ll be in time. But the signs are there that they are getting there.

- December 7 2008 at 10:38 pm

Chris Brennan (author) said:

Lee just posted the full text from her speech on her blog here: http://leephd.blogspot.com/2008/12/is-there-political-dimension-to-being.html

- December 8 2008 at 10:14 am

Lee Lehman said:

Chris – thanks for picking up on this.

I think that one of the legacies of the Sixties generation of astrologers is that there were far more people who participated in “turn on, tune in, drop out” than participated in political action.

In the 80s, the then new generation of astrologers was criticizing the AFA for “amateurism” – but that self-same generation never “got” that being a professional takes more than getting paid. And becoming a professional is just not going to be possible without some serious political action to change attitudes about astrology here and in other countries. My generation accepted the lie that we could just do our own thing and that was enough.

In fact, our stubborn process of ghetto-izing ourselves is simply guaranteeing that our voices will be marginalized.

I would hope that AYA is up to the political challenge. It would be a fine mandate!

- December 13 2008 at 12:03 pm

Chris Brennan (author) said:

No problem Lee! I’m glad that you guys posted it on YouTube. I hope that you continue to post more of your lectures there.

I agree that tackling the political issues surrounding astrology would be a fine mandate for AYA, and for the up-and-coming generations in general. Your speech has given me a lot to think about, and I will keep this in mind as we continue to grow and expand the organization.

Sometimes it only takes one dedicated generation to initiate sweeping changes, so I hope that this will take root with the people who are coming into the field now.

- December 15 2008 at 5:34 am

Joseph L said:

What chakra does astrology rule over ? All of them. Just as homosexuals (a word I find more tactful than ‘gays’), Astrologers receive injury to their heart and naval chakras because of fear and judgement. Looking at it this way, the answer lies in the solar plexus; through making a decision to polarize towards what one knows is right in the heart. “We have to do this.” However, because of the many many different kinds of astrologers and their different practices, the unity of astrologers as a whole is weakened substantially. There are even frauds amoung “us.” It is they who are in the public most often, which is a sting.
So, astrology must first become unified before making any sort of political stand and I do not believe we are to that level yet. Hellenistic Astrology, with its outward apperance of dignity as being the translation of a truely divine text, proved through its unscrupulous accurary in horoscopes, I believe, is the salient which will take Astrology to a higher level of esteem.
Astrology needs to reach the Heart Chakra of the public, you see. There needs to be healing amoungst astrologers first. Regardless, what is going on in ‘astro-world’ (down here on earth I mean,) is an extremely exciting time! Yet it is kept just to ourselves. We need some Vesta–we need to amplify this integrity so more people can see it and cannot doubt it. I’m not sure how to promote authentic astrology, but we have something that is just so sweet. If the world wants astrology, they will get it, for ‘ask and you shall receive.’ Gosh, people are dying for answers, just look at all the junk they read in sun sign horoscopes everyday ! We can do this ! Unite !

- January 11 2009 at 11:16 am

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