Gay Tarot Deck by Bursten & Platano — 78-Card Lo Scarabeo LGBTQ+ Deck

Short description:

The Gay Tarot Deck by Steve Burkhardt and Max Platano published by Lo Scarabeo presents all 78 tarot cards through a fully LGBTQ+-affirming lens — featuring same-sex couples, queer archetypes, and diverse masculine representations across the Major and Minor Arcana. One of the original queer tarot decks and still a touchstone for LGBTQ+ practitioners seeking genuine representation in their divination practice.

Description:

Quick Specs

• Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
• Creator: Lee Bursten (concept and text); Antonella Platano (illustration)
• Cards: 78-card full tarot deck with illustrated minors
• Card size: Approximately 2.75 x 4.75 inches
• Booklet: Multi-language LWB in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German
• Best for: LGBTQ+ practitioners, gay men seeking self-reflective readings, collectors

Gay Tarot Deck: A Lo Scarabeo Deck Built Around Queer Male Identity

The Gay Tarot by Lee Bursten and illustrated by Antonella Platano was published by Lo Scarabeo in 2004, and it represents a landmark in the history of the tarot deck: the first widely distributed deck from a mainstream publisher to center the experience of gay men throughout all 78 cards. Where a traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck uses heteronormative pairings in cards like the Lovers and Two of Cups, the Gay Tarot replaces those archetypes with imagery drawn from the everyday lives and relationships of gay men, without sacrificing the symbolic depth that makes tarot a serious divination tool.

Bursten's intent was specific and practical: to create a deck that could function as a non-threatening space for gay men to explore questions of relationship, identity, and how to navigate a society whose attitudes toward homosexuality range from indifference to hostility. The result is a deck that is fully applicable as a working reading tool, not just a collector's item. The card stock and print quality meet Lo Scarabeo's standard, the mid-blue bordered cards feel professional in hand, and the fully illustrated minor arcana means no experience gap between major and minor readings.

LGBTQ Tarot: Reframing the Major Arcana and Court Cards

Several Major Arcana titles are intentionally reframed to reflect gay experience. The High Priestess becomes The Intuitive and the Empress becomes The Protector, both represented by male figures. The Devil becomes Self-Hatred, acknowledging the internalized shame many gay men face, and the Tower becomes Revelation, depicting a young man coming out to his parents with lightning visible through an open window. The Judgment card is retitled Beyond Judgment and shows a pride celebration, a pointed inversion of the traditional imagery of divine verdict. These are not arbitrary changes; each one carries clear symbolic logic tied to the lived experience the deck was designed to reflect.

The court cards are renamed Youth (Page), Man (Knight), Guide (Queen analog), and Sage (King), with the Guide card described in the LWB as also representing the higher self and wider perspective. The minor arcana uses Cups, Coins, Wands, and Swords in the traditional order, with fully illustrated scenes featuring men of diverse ages, ethnicities, and body types in contemporary settings. A recurring cast of characters appears across multiple cards, giving the deck an unusual sense of narrative continuity that serves deeper self-reflection work. Find this deck in my tarot deck collection.

How to Use the Gay Tarot Deck

The Tarot Fellow Standard

I carry the Gay Tarot because it is a serious working deck, not a novelty. Bursten and Platano built a tool that respects both the tradition of the Rider-Waite-Smith system and the specific experiences of its intended audience, and the result holds up twenty years after publication. The Lo Scarabeo production quality is consistent, the LWB is more substantial than typical for the publisher, and the fully illustrated minors make it usable straight out of the box. If you are building a reading practice or a collection that reflects diverse human experience, this belongs on your shelf. Explore my full tarot and divination collection for more decks chosen with the same standard.

Frequently Asked Questions