Editing Religion and sexuality (section)

==Indigenous religions==
===African Diasporic religions===
{{Main|Haitian Vodou and sexual orientation}}

Within [[Candomblé]], a [[Syncretism|syncretic]] religion primarily found in Brazil, there is widespread (though not universal) support for gay rights, many members are LGBT, and have performed gay marriages.<ref>{{Cite web|last=CartaCapital|date=2017-09-22|title=Homossexualidade e candomblé|url=https://www.cartacapital.com.br/blogs/dialogos-da-fe/homossexualidade-e-candomble/|access-date=2021-05-01|website=CartaCapital|language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Moutinho|first=Laura|year=2013|title=Homosexuality, skin color and religiosity: flirting among the "povo de santo" in Rio de Janeiro|url=http://www.clam.org.br/uploads/publicacoes/book2/32.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://www.clam.org.br/uploads/publicacoes/book2/32.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live|journal=CLAM. Sexuality, Culture and Politics – A South American Reader|pages=573–592|isbn=978-85-89737-82-1}}</ref><ref name="GI São Paulo">{{cite web|date=27 February 2017|title=Casal gay celebra casamento umbandista em bloco no centro de São Paulo|url=https://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/carnaval/2017/noticia/casal-celebra-casamento-em-bloco-de-carnaval-no-centro-de-sao-paulo.ghtml|work=GI São Paulo|language=pt}}</ref><ref name="Homossexualidade e candomblé">{{cite web|date=22 September 2017|title=Homossexualidade e candomblé|url=https://www.cartacapital.com.br/blogs/dialogos-da-fe/homosexualidade-e-candomble/|work=Carta Capital|language=pt}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Practitioners of [[Santería]], primarily found in Cuba, generally (though not universally) welcome LGBT members and include them in religious or ritual activities.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Introduction ~ ¡Homofobia no! ¡Socialismo sí! Identity, culture, gender and sexuality in today's Cuba ~ Minority Stories|url=https://stories.minorityrights.org/afrocuba-lgbtqi/chapter/introduction/|access-date=2021-05-01|website=stories.minorityrights.org|date=5 March 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vidal-Ortiz|first=Salvador|year=2006|title=Sexuality discussions in santería: A case study of religion and sexuality negotiation|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/srsp.2006.3.3.52|journal=Sexuality Research and Social Policy|volume=3|issue=3|pages=52–66|doi=10.1525/srsp.2006.3.3.52|s2cid=144582747|issn=1868-9884}}</ref> Also a Brazilian syncretic religion, [[Umbanda]] houses generally support LGBT rights and have performed gay marriages.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Brazil gays celebrate first mass wedding|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-06-23/brazil-gays-celebrate-first-mass-wedding|access-date=2021-05-01|website=The World from PRX|date=August 2016 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="GI São Paulo" /><ref name="Homossexualidade e candomblé" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ogland|first1=Curtis P.|last2=Verona|first2=Ana Paula|year=2014|title=Religion and the rainbow struggle: does religion factor into attitudes toward homosexuality and same-sex civil unions in Brazil?|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24914634/|journal=Journal of Homosexuality|volume=61|issue=9|pages=1334–1349|doi=10.1080/00918369.2014.926767|issn=1540-3602|pmid=24914634|s2cid=32139660}}</ref> Homosexuality is religiously acceptable in [[Haitian Vodou]].<ref name="Haiti's fight for gay rights">{{Cite web |title=Haiti's fight for gay rights |url=http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/haiti-lgbt/ |access-date=2021-03-27 |publisher=Al Jazeera}}</ref><ref name="Homosexuality And Voodoo">{{cite web |date=20 July 2013 |title=Homosexuality And Voodoo |url=http://www.haitiobserver.com/blog/homosexuality-and-voodoo.html |access-date=30 March 2021 |website=Haiti Observer}}</ref><ref name="advocate.com">{{Cite web |date=2016-10-31 |title=Queer Haitians Find a Refuge in Vodou |url=http://www.advocate.com/current-issue/2016/10/31/why-queer-haitians-are-turning-vodou |access-date=2021-03-27 |website=advocate.com |language=en}}</ref> The lwa or loa (spirits) [[Ezili Dantor|Erzulie Dantor]] and [[Erzulie|Erzulie Freda]] are often associated with and viewed as protectors of queer people.<ref name="Review">{{Cite web |date=2018-06-06 |title=Black Madonna Vodou Religion Spirit Lwa Erzulie Dantor by Kate Kingsbury |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/theglobalcatholicreview/2018/06/polish-black-madonna-haitian-vodou-spirit-erzulie-dantor-kate-kingsbury-africa-love-religion/ |access-date=2021-03-27 |website=The Global Catholic Review |language=en}}</ref><ref name="lisantiadmin">{{Cite web |last=lisantiadmin |title=Haiti's LGBTQ-Accepting Vodou Societies |url=https://www.irenemonroe.com/haitis-lgbtq-accepting-vodou-societies/ |access-date=2021-03-27 |website=Rev Irene Monroe |language=en-US}}</ref> The lao [[Ghede Nibo]] is sometimes depicted as an effeminate drag queen and inspires those he inhabits to lascivious sexuality of all kinds.<ref name="Cassell">Randy Conner, David Hatfield Sparks & Mariya Sparks (eds), Cassell's ''Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol & Spirit'', p. 963, London and New York: Cassell, 1997.</ref><ref>Conner, p. 157, "Ghede Nibo"</ref>

===Ancient Mesopotamian religion===
{{Main|Ancient Mesopotamian religion}}

Individuals who went against the traditional [[gender binary]] were heavily involved in the cult of [[Inanna]], an ancient Mesopotamian goddess.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|author=Leick, Dr Gwendolyn|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1120210531|title=Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature|isbn=978-0-203-41428-6|oclc=1120210531}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=LGBTQ+ in the Ancient World|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1790/lgbtq-in-the-ancient-world/|access-date=2021-08-28|website=World History Encyclopedia|language=en}}</ref> During Sumerian times, a set of priests known as ''[[Gala (priests)|gala]]'' worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed elegies and lamentations.<ref name=":3" /> Men who became ''gala'' sometimes adopted female names and their songs were composed in the Sumerian ''[[Sumerian language#Dialects|eme-sal]]'' dialect, which, in literary texts, is normally reserved for the speech of female characters. Some Sumerian proverbs seem to suggest that ''gala'' had a reputation for engaging in [[anal sex]] with men.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Murray|first=Stephen O.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/35526232|title=Islamic homosexualities : culture, history, and literature|date=1997|others=Will Roscoe|isbn=0-8147-7467-9|location=New York|oclc=35526232}}</ref> During the Akkadian Period, ''kurgarrū'' and ''assinnu'' were servants of Ishtar who [[Cross-dressing|dressed in female clothing]] and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples.<ref name=":4" /> Several Akkadian [[proverb]]s seem to suggest that they may have also had homosexual proclivities.<ref name=":4" /> Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist known for her writings on Mesopotamia, has compared these individuals to the contemporary Indian ''[[Hijra (South Asia)|hijra]].''<ref name=":3" /> In one Akkadian hymn, Ishtar is described as transforming men into women.<ref name=":4" /> Some modern pagans include Inanna in their worship.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/966491570|title=Cosmopolitanism, nationalism, and modern paganism|date=2017|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US|others=Kathryn Rountree|isbn=978-1-137-56200-5|location=New York|oclc=966491570}}</ref>

===Pre-colonial religions of the Americas===
{{Main|Alaska Native religion|Mesoamerican religion|Native American religion|Inuit religion}}
{{Further|Same-sex marriage in tribal nations in the United States}}
[[File:Catlin - Dance to the berdache.jpg|thumb|Drawing by [[George Catlin]] (1796–1872) while on the [[Great Plains]] among the [[Sac and Fox Nation]]. Depicting a group of male warriors dancing around a male-bodied person in a woman's dress, non-Native artist George Catlin titled the painting ''Dance to the Berdache''.]]

Among the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] prior to the [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]], many Nations had respected ceremonial, religious, and social roles for homosexual, bisexual, and gender-nonconforming individuals in their communities and in many contemporary [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] and [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] communities, these roles still exist.<ref name="Estrada">{{cite journal |url=http://nativeout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Two-Spirits-Nadleeh-and-Navajo-LGBTQ2-Gaze.pdf |title=Two Spirits, Nádleeh, and LGBTQ2 Navajo Gaze |journal=American Indian Culture and Research Journal |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=167–190 |last=Estrada |first=Gabriel S |year=2011 |doi=10.17953/aicr.35.4.x500172017344j30 |doi-broken-date=3 December 2024 |access-date=29 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150513044527/http://nativeout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Two-Spirits-Nadleeh-and-Navajo-LGBTQ2-Gaze.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2015}}</ref><ref name="terms">{{cite web |url=http://nativeout.com/twospirit-rc/two-spirit-101/two-spirit-terms-in-tribal-languages/ |title=Two Spirit Terms in Tribal Languages |website=Native Out |access-date=29 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102172337/http://nativeout.com/twospirit-rc/two-spirit-101/two-spirit-terms-in-tribal-languages/ |archive-date=2 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="de Vries 2009">{{cite book|last1=de Vries|first1=Kylan Mattias|title=Encyclopedia of gender and society|date=2009|publisher=SAGE|isbn=9781412909167|editor1-last=O'Brien|editor1-first=Jodi|location=Los Angeles|page=64|chapter=Berdache (Two-Spirit)|access-date=6 March 2015|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nyHS4WyUKEC}}</ref><ref name="Kehoe">{{cite web|last=Kehoe|first=Alice B.|author-link=Alice Beck Kehoe|year=2002|title=Appropriate Terms|url=https://www.saa.org/publications/saabulletin/16-2/saa14.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041105120021/https://www.saa.org/publications/saabulletin/16-2/saa14.html|archive-date=2004-11-05|access-date=2019-05-01|work=SAA Bulletin|publisher=Society for American Archaeology 16(2), [[UC-Santa Barbara]]|issn=0741-5672}}</ref> Homosexual and gender-variant individuals were also common among other pre-[[Spanish colonization of the Americas|conquest]] civilizations in [[Latin America]], such as the [[Aztec]]s, [[Maya civilization|Mayans]], [[Quechuas]], [[Moche (culture)|Moches]], [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotecs]], and the [[Tupinambá people|Tupinambá]] of Brazil and were accepted in their various religions.<ref name="glbtqlatinamerica">{{citation|last=Pablo|first=Ben|title=Latin America: Colonial|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/latin_america_colonial.html|periodical=[[glbtq.com]]|year=2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211012339/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/latin_america_colonial.html|access-date=2007-08-01|archive-date=2007-12-11|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="glbtqmex">{{cite encyclopedia|year=2004|title=Mexico|encyclopedia=glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture|publisher=[[glbtq.com|glbtq, Inc.]]|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/mexico.html|access-date=2007-08-01|last=Murray|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen O. Murray|editor=Claude J. Summers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102132531/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/mexico.html|archive-date=2007-11-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>