Throwin’ it Back Into Aries Season with Gay Asstrology

Founded in 2018, Gay Asstrology is bringing Los Angeles’ most inclusive LGBTQ dance party to Salt Lake City’s Metro Music Hall on April 10 at 7:00 p.m. to pay homage to Aries season. 

Built from a decades-long friendship between co-founders Mackey Hendricks (Aquarius sun, Sagittarius Moon and Scorpio rising) and Nico Turner (Gemini sun, Leo moon, and Leo rising), Gay Asstrology’s event series has since grown beyond LA into an inclusive movement celebrating the unique position of the cosmos, branching to other big cities such as New York City, Palm Springs and Long Beach, while still welcoming attendees of all sexualities and genders.

Hosting their first official dance party in 2018, this latest expansion to Utah marks the newest destination for Gay Asstrology’s unique celebration of the zodiac, which includes several exciting experiences and performances from a curated talent lineup featuring DJs, drag queens and tarot readers. 

As often as possible, the featured talents have a sun sign that corresponds to the zodiac of that month’s event, from the DJs playing music to the drag queens performing. But it’s also more than the sum of these granular details; the planning and execution aspire towards an atmospheric vibe that evokes and honors the traits uniquely espoused by some of the most iconic and beloved of the zodiac. Hendricks cites figures like “Queen Mariah, the most Aries of all Aries to ever be an Aries,” as examples of inspiration for the upcoming Wednesday night rager.

Every now and again, the parties themselves seem too fantastical to be anything less than written in the stars. “Last year, the Gemini party of our dreams happened because we were able to get Amber Valentine and her twin sister Chelsea Starr. They’re both DJs. They’re both lesbians. They’re obviously Geminis—Gemini twins,” Hendricks recounts. “We got them to DJ back to back for our Gemini party and it was unreal. We brought in Amber from New York and Chelsea from Portland. They hadn’t ever DJ’d together, so being able to bring them together was, like, the coolest thing ever, for this crazy, double Gemini party.”

However, Gay Asstrology originated from less elaborate queer parties the pair of friends attended and hosted in the early aughts, back when you had to know somebody to get invited. “It was just a different time. We’re nostalgic for that feeling,” Hendricks explains, with Gay Asstrology being a natural progression from that past. “I had been doing these full moon parties at my house. Every full moon I would invite a handful of friends over and we would sit around the fire and pass around the big astrology book—you know, that big one from the ‘90s—and people would look up their birthday and read about their sign.”

Those familiar with Utah’s burgeoning nightlife scene may also be familiar with different LGBTQIA+ events hosted by local bars intended to draw out various subgroups, such as “bear night” or “leather night.” Turner explains that Gay Asstrology is not a party for any one specific group. “It’s literally for everyone. It’s for the whole alphabet—the whole rainbow. You can come as you are, be who you are. And we celebrate it.” 

“We really latched on to the idea that everyone has a birthday. No matter what your sexual orientation is, or which letter you fall under in the alphabet,”

Cycling through the 12 different astrological signs throughout the year, the parties instead celebrate identity categories beyond unintentionally exclusionary LGBTQ+ stereotypes. By highlighting the content of individuals’ natal charts rather than different sexualities, fetishes, body types or even style choices and other subcultural identity categories and codes, Gay Asstrology creates an environment anybody and everybody can be welcomed into. “We really latched on to the idea that everyone has a birthday. No matter what your sexual orientation is, or which letter you fall under in the alphabet,” Turner says.

She continues, “I grew up in a church that’s very similar to the predominant church in Utah. I’ve been gay for as long as I could count, but that community was my only stable family for a long time. The party—for me, personally—provides community, family and stability. It’s just a place to celebrate, which is kind of like our church. It’s important to me to also extend that [feeling] to others who may have had the same experience.” 

“I imagine there are probably a bunch of queers in Salt Lake who, just like me, have lost that thing that they came from, that they weren’t really ever a part of, maybe. But I just feel like this is a nice place to find family, community and a place where you feel safe and where you can fully be yourself.” 

With Gay Asstrology headed to Salt Lake City fresh on the heels of the recent closure of The Sun Trapp, a central pillar of Utah’s gay community since 1973, Turner’s hope for the inaugural event comes at a critical time for community building and presents the opportunity to mix partying with our ever-important spiritual activism and solidarity: “I imagine there are probably a bunch of queers in Salt Lake who, just like me, have lost that thing that they came from, that they weren’t really ever a part of, maybe. But I just feel like this is a nice place to find family, community and a place where you feel safe and where you can fully be yourself.” 

If you’re hoping to cop your tickets to tear up the dance floor in Salt Lake City during the Mercury Retrograde in Aries or discover your long-lost community of fellow gay ass-trologers at future events, follow @gayasstrology on Instagram and grab your tickets for the party on April 10 at Metro Music Hall here.

Read more about Salt Lake City’s LGBTQ+ community here!
Bold & Beautiful: Shortcake the Clown
The Stories We Still Need: Queer Filmmaking in Utah