In this essay I will explain how religion is sometimes used to mobilize against LGBT people, how some people's religious and personal doctrines conflict regarding LGBT issues, and how religious beliefs and the community can be a positive force for the LGBT community. Throughout history, the major Abrahamic religions have had a negative relationship with LGBT people. Beginning with the Jewish exodus from Egypt, the purity codes documented in the Book of Leviticus of the Hebrew Bible explicitly established a strict set of rules that attempted to keep the new Israelite nation “clean.” As William Countryman argues in the article “Dirt, Greed, & Sex,” the Bible sets a precedent for what is “clean” and pure as well as what is “dirty.” In this sense, dirty means where something doesn't belong or is out of place. The ancient Israelite text and some New Testament verses have been used by many contemporary Christian denominations to condemn LGBT people to hell and to provide “moral reasoning” in support of legislation that makes LGBT people second-class citizens. Missionaries during the imperialist period of European history also used these verses to spread hatred around the world, and many of these anti-homosexuality and sodomy laws supported by Christian colonial monarchies are still in place in former colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania. . The spread of Islam, a religion that also considers Jewish texts as sacred scripture, also had the same effect on the Swahili coast, the Horn of Africa, Persia and Southeast Asia. These religious texts have been the basis for anti-LGBT laws around the world, and as Abrahamic religions spread, tolerance for LGBT people in other societies declined. Although the doctrine and religious leaders of ... middle of paper ... ...do-Pakistani cultures and two spiritual individuals in American Indian cultures. These examples of LGBT acceptance in society could be a basis for the coexistence of acceptance of LGBT people while maintaining adherence to religion. In the text above, I explained how religion is used to persecute LGBT people, how personal opinions can differ from religious ones. opinions and how the LGBT community and a religious society could coexist. LGBT people have appeared in recorded history for centuries, and long before the dawn of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the past, these societies had roles for LGBT people that allowed for their acceptance, and in our global society where Abrahamic religions are widely influential, we can draw on our ancient histories to create an environment where LGBT people are accepted while continuing to have a religious belief. and spiritual society.