Homosexuality and religion supported them. Ancient religious texts such as the Vedas often refer to people of a third gender known as hijra, who are neither female nor male. Some see this third gender as an ancient parallel to modern western lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex identities. Hinduism has taken various positions, ranging from positive to neutral or antagonistic. Referring to the nature of Samsara, the Rigveda, one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism says 'Vikruti Evam Prakriti' (perversity/diversity is what nature is all about, or, what seems unnatural is also natural). A "third gender" has been acknowledged within Hinduism
Ancient Mesopotamian religion Oppenheim (1964) stating that "a systematic presentation of Mesopotamian religion cannot and should not be written. " Others, like Jean Bottéro, the author of "Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia", disagreed, believing that it would be too complicated to divide the religion into many smaller groups, stating that: According to Panbabylonism, a school of thought founded by Hugo Winckler and held in the early 20th century among primarily German Assyriologists, there was a common cultural system extending over the Ancient Near East which was overwhelmingly influenced by the Babylonians. According to this theory the religions of the Near East were rooted in