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Charley Pride

Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player.

Beginning his career as a Negro league baseball player in the early-1950s, he later pursued a career in country music, becoming the genre's first major black superstar. His greatest musical success came in the late-1960s and early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Records. During the peak years of his recording career (1966–1987), he had 52 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 30 of which made it to number one. Songs such as "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)", "Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone", and "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'", among others, typified the "countrypolitan" style that made him famous and became crossover-pop hits. He won the Entertainer of the Year award at the Country Music Association Awards in 1971 and was awarded a Grammy for "Best Country Vocal Performance, Male" in 1972. Pride later ventured into gospel music, releasing his first gospel album Did You Think to Pray in 1971.

Pride is one of three African-American members of the Grand Ole Opry (the others being DeFord Bailey and Darius Rucker). He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.

Early life
Pride was born on March 18, 1934, in Sledge, Mississippi, the fourth of eleven children of poor sharecroppers. His father intended to name him Charl Frank Pride, but owing to a clerical error on his birth certificate, his legal name was Charley Frank Pride. Eight boys and three girls were in the family. His elder brother, Mack Pride, played Negro league baseball before entering the ministry.

Baseball and military service
When Pride was 14, his mother purchased him his first guitar and he taught himself to play. Though he loved music, one of Pride's lifelong dreams was to become a professional baseball player. In 1952, he pitched for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League. In 1953, he signed a contract with the Boise Yankees, the Class C farm team of the New York Yankees. During that season, an injury caused him to lose the "mustard" on his fastball, and he was sent to the Yankees' Class D team in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Later that season, while in the Negro leagues with the Louisville Clippers, two players – Pride and Jesse Mitchell – were traded to the Birmingham Black Barons for a team bus. "Jesse and I may have the distinction of being the only players in history to be traded for a used motor vehicle," Pride mused in his 1994 autobiography.

Pride pitched for several other minor league teams, his hopes of making it to the big leagues still alive, but was drafted into the United States Army in 1956. After basic training, he was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, where he was a quartermaster and played on the Fort's baseball team. That team won the All Army Sports Championship. When discharged in 1958, he rejoined the Memphis Red Sox. He tried to return to baseball, though hindered by an injury to his throwing arm.

Pride played three games for the Missoula Timberjacks of the Pioneer League (a farm club of the Cincinnati Reds) in 1960, and had tryouts with the California Angels (1961) and the New York Mets (1962) organizations, but was not picked up by either team.

When he was laid off by the Timberjacks, he moved to work construction in Helena, Montana, in 1960. He was recruited to pitch for the local semipro baseball team, the East Helena Smelterites, and the team manager helped him get a job at the local Asarco lead smelter. The lead smelter kept 18 jobs open specifically for baseball players, and arranged their shifts so they could play as a team. Pride batted .444 his first year.

Pride's singing ability soon came to the attention of the team manager, who also paid him to sing for 15 minutes before each game, which increased attendance and earned Pride another $10 on top of the $10 he earned for each game. He also played gigs in the local area, both solo and with a band called the Night Hawks, and Asarco asked him to sing at company picnics. His job at the smelter was dangerous and difficult; he once broke his ankle. He routinely unloaded coal from railroad cars, shoveling it into a 2400 F furnace while keeping clear of slag, a task that frequently gave him burns. In a 2014 interview, Pride explained, "I would work at the smelter, work the swing shift and then play music," said Pride. "I'd work 11–7. Drive. Play Friday. Punch in. Drive. Polson. Philipsburg."

Between his smelter job and his music, he made a good living in the Helena area. He moved his wife and son to join him and they lived in Helena until 1967, purchasing their first home there, and with their children Dion and Angela being born at the local hospital. The Pride family moved to Great Falls, Montana, in 1967, because Pride's music career was taking off and he required quicker access to an airport. The family ultimately left Montana and moved to Texas in 1969. In a 1967 interview with the Helena Independent Record, his wife Rozene Pride commented that the family encountered minor racism in Montana, citing an incident where they were refused service in a restaurant and another time when a realtor refused to show them a home, but she felt that the family endured less racism than she saw leveled against local Native American people, whose treatment she compared to that given to black people in the South. Pride has generally spoken with fondness of the near-decade he spent there. "Montana is a very conservative state ... I stood out like a neon. But once they let you in, you become a Montanan. When the rumor was that I was leaving. They kept saying, 'we will let you in, you can't leave.'"

On June 5, 2008, Pride and his brother Mack "The Knife" Pride and 28 other living former Negro league players were "drafted" by each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams in a recognition of the on-field achievements and historical relevance of 30 mostly-forgotten Negro league stars. Pride was picked by the Texas Rangers, with whom he has had a long affiliation, and the Colorado Rockies took his brother Mack.

Rise to fame
While he was active in baseball, Pride had been encouraged to join the music business by country stars such as Red Sovine and Red Foley, and was working towards this career. In 1958, in Memphis, Pride visited Sun Studio and recorded some songs.

He performed his music solo at clubs and with a four-piece combo called the Night Hawks during the time he lived in Montana. His break came when Chet Atkins at RCA Records heard a demonstration tape and got Pride a contract. In 1966, he released his first RCA single, "The Snakes Crawl at Night". Nashville manager and agent Jack D. Johnson signed Pride. Atkins was the longtime producer at RCA who had made stars out of country singers such as Jim Reeves, Skeeter Davis, and others. Pride signed with RCA in 1965. "The Snakes Crawl at Night" did not chart. On the records of this song submitted to radio stations for airplay, the singer was listed as "Country Charley Pride". Pride disputes that the omission of a photo was deliberate; he stated that getting promoters to bring in a Black country singer was a bigger problem: "People didn't care if I was pink. RCA signed me ... they knew I was colored ... They decided to put the record out and let it speak for itself." While living in Montana, he continued to sing at local clubs, and in Great Falls had an additional boost to his career when he befriended local businessman Louis Allen "Al" Donohue, who owned radio stations, including KMON, the first stations to play Pride's records in Montana.

Soon after the release of "The Snakes Crawl at Night", Pride released another single called "Before I Met You", which also did not chart. Not long afterwards, his third single, "Just Between You and Me", was released. This song finally brought Pride success on the country charts. The song reached number nine on Hot Country Songs on February 25, 1967.

According to a news item by the Associated Press, Pride made this comment in a 1992 interview: "They used to ask me how it feels to be the 'first colored country singer' ... Then it was 'first Negro country singer;' then 'first black country singer.' Now I'm the 'first African-American country singer.' That's about the only thing that's changed".

Career peak
The success of "Just Between You and Me" was enormous. Pride was nominated for a Grammy Award for the song the next year. In the late summer of 1966, on the strength of his early releases, he was booked for his first large show, in Detroit's Olympia Stadium. Since no biographical information had been included with those singles, few of the 10,000 country fans who came to the show knew Pride was Black and discovered the fact only when he walked onto the stage, at which point the applause trickled off to silence. "I knew I'd have to get it over with sooner or later," Pride later remembered. "I told the audience: 'Friends, I realize it's a little unique, me coming out here – with a permanent suntan – to sing country and western to you. But that's the way it is.' "

The show became the first of a long and active career playing to large audiences, his race soon becoming a minor detail compared to his success. In 1967, he became the first black performer to appear at the Grand Ole Opry since founding member DeFord Bailey, who had last appeared in 1941. Between 1969 and 1971, Pride had eight singles that reached number one on the US Country Hit Parade and also charted on the Billboard Hot 100: "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)", "(I'm So) Afraid of Losing You Again", "I Can't Believe That You've Stopped Loving Me", "I'd Rather Love You", "Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone", "Wonder Could I Live There Anymore", "I'm Just Me", and "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'". The pop success of these songs reflected the country/pop crossover sound that was reaching country music in the 1960s and early 1970s, known as "Countrypolitan". In 1969, his compilation album, The Best of Charley Pride, sold more than one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Ultimately, Elvis Presley was the only artist who sold more records than Pride for RCA.

Pride performed "All His Children", featured in the film Sometimes a Great Notion (1971). The film received two Oscar nominations in 1972, one for "All His Children".

"Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'"
In 1971, Pride released what would become his biggest hit, "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'", a million-selling crossover single. The same year, he won the Country Music Association's entertainer of the year award, as well as its top male vocalist award in 1971 and 1972.

"Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" became Pride's signature tune. Besides being a five-week country number one in late 1971 and early 1972, the song was also his only pop top-40 hit, hitting number 21, and reaching the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary charts, as well.

1970s and Northern Ireland
During the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Pride continued to rack up country music hits. Other Pride standards from this period include "Mississippi Cotton Picking Delta Town", "Someone Loves You, Honey", "When I Stop Leavin' (I'll Be Gone)", "Burgers and Fries", "I Don't Think She's in Love Anymore", "Roll On Mississippi", "Never Been So Loved (In All My Life)", and "You're So Good When You're Bad". Like many other country performers, Pride paid tribute to Hank Williams, with an album of songs that were all written by Hank titled There's a Little Bit of Hank in Me, which included top-sellers of Williams' classics "Kaw-Liga", "Honky Tonk Blues", and "You Win Again". Pride sold more than 70 million records (singles, albums, and compilations included).

In 1975, Pride's agent sold a 40-date tour package to a United Kingdom booking agent, who onward sold four dates to the Dublin-based Irish music promoter Jim Aiken. At the time, the Troubles were at their height, and few nonresident music and sports teams traveled there. Aiken subsequently traveled to Pride's winter 1975/'76 concert in Ohio, and persuaded Pride to play one of the concerts at Belfast's Ritz Cinema. Pride played the concert in November 1976, with his album song "Crystal Chandeliers" subsequently being released as a single in the UK and Ireland. Pride subsequently became a hero to both sides of the conflict for breaking the effective touring concert ban, his song "Crystal Chandeliers" was seen as a unity song, and the success of Pride's visit enabled Aiken to book further acts into Northern Ireland after his appearance.

1980s and beyond
Pride performed the national anthem before game six of the 1980 World Series. He also performed the national anthem at Super Bowl VIII and again at game five of the 2010 World Series, accompanied both years by the Del Rio High School JROTC Color Guard.

On May 1, 1993, Pride became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He celebrated his 25th anniversary of becoming a member with performances at the Opry on May 4 and 5, 2018.

In 1994, Charley Pride published his book Pride: The Charley Pride Story. Pride spoke with John Siegenthaler on Nashville Public Television about the book and his childhood in Mississippi, the impacts of racism throughout his career, and his battle with depression.

In 2016, Pride was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on Forever Country, a mash-up track of "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "On the Road Again", and "I Will Always Love You", which celebrates 50 years of the Country Music Association Awards. Pride released his first album in six years, titled Music in My Heart, on July 7, 2017.

In 2020, the CMA announced that Pride would receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 54th Country Music Association Awards in recognition of his work in the genre. The CEO of the CMA explained that "Charley Pride is the epitome of a trailblazer. Few other artists have grown country music's rich heritage and led to the advancement of country music around the world like Charley. His distinctive voice has created a timeless legacy that continues to echo through the country community today. We could not be more excited to honor Charley with one of CMA's highest accolades."

Personal life
Pride met his wife Rozene while playing baseball in Memphis, Tennessee. They married in 1956 while Pride was on Christmas leave from Army basic training. The couple had two sons, Kraig and Dion, and a daughter, Angela. They also had five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. They resided in Dallas.

In the late 1970s, Pride had an extramarital affair with an unmarried Dallas flight attendant, and in 1979, she gave birth to a son, Tyler. In 1990, the woman sued Pride for child support, and Pride responded by contesting the boy's paternity. In 1992, after a DNA paternity test demonstrated that Pride was in fact the child's father, a Texas court ordered Pride to pay child support until Tyler's 18th birthday, and further ordered that the boy's surname be changed to Pride.

Pride had a tumor removed from his right vocal cord in 1997 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He returned to the site in February 2009 for a routine checkup and surprised the Arkansas Senate with an unplanned performance of five songs. He was joined by Governor Mike Beebe during the show.

Pride was a fan and part owner of the Texas Rangers. He also performed the national anthem at some of the Rangers' games.

Pride is a distant relative of blues guitarist and singer Christone "Kingfish" Ingram.

Death
Pride died from complications related to COVID-19 in Dallas, on December 12, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas. He was 86 years old.

In May 2021, Tyler Pride contested Charley's will, asserting that he had been omitted to maintain "a Pride family secret" and "[protect] Charley's brand and legacy." In a statement to The Dallas Morning News, Rozene—the executor of Charley's will—did not dispute that Tyler was Charley's son, but said that Tyler had been given adequate compensation and recognition during Charley's life, and characterized the lawsuit as a ploy for financial gain. In September 2022, Tyler Pride said that the lawsuit had been settled for undisclosed terms.

Honors and distinctions

 * In 2003, a 33 mi stretch of Mississippi Highway 3 from Pride's hometown of Sledge to Tutwiler was named "Charley Pride Highway".
 * Pride sang the national anthem before game five of the 2010 World Series, played between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.
 * On March 14, 2021, the Texas Rangers baseball team announced that their spring training field in Surprise, Arizona, had been renamed "Charley Pride Field".

Awards and accolades
Academy of Country Music Awards
 * 1994 Pioneer Award

American Music Awards
 * 1973 Favorite Country Album
 * 1973 Favorite Country Male Artist
 * 1976 Favorite Country Male Artist

Ameripolitan Music Awards
 * 2016 Master Award

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
 * Inducted in 2000

Country Music Association
 * 1971 Entertainer of the Year
 * 1971 Male Vocalist of the Year
 * 1972 Male Vocalist of the Year
 * 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award

Grammy Awards
 * 1971 Best Sacred Performance (Musical) – "Did You Think to Pray"
 * 1972 Best Gospel Performance (other than soul gospel) – "Let Me Live"
 * 1973 Best Country Vocal Performance, Male – Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs
 * 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award

National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum
 * Inducted in 2006

Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame
 * 1996 Merit of Distinction Award in the Performing Arts

title: Charley Pride


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Light characteristic

A light characteristic is all of the properties that make a particular navigational light identifiable. Graphical and textual descriptions of navigational light sequences and colours are displayed on nautical charts and in Light Lists with the chart symbol for a lighthouse, lightvessel, buoy or sea mark with a light on it. Different lights use different colours, frequencies and light patterns, so mariners can identify which light they are seeing.

Abbreviations
While light characteristics can be described in prose, e.g. "Flashing white every three seconds", lists of lights and navigation chart annotations use abbreviations. The abbreviation notation is slightly different from one light list to another, with dots added or removed, but it usually follows a pattern similar to the following (see the chart to the right for examples).
 * An abbreviation of the type of light, e.g. "Fl." for flashing, "F." for fixed.
 * The color of the light, e.g. "W" for white, "G" for green, "R" for red, "Y" for yellow, "Bu" for blue. If no color is given, a white light is generally implied.
 * The cycle period, e.g. "10s" for ten seconds.
 * Additional parameters are sometimes added:
 * The height of the light above the chart datum for height (usually based on high water). e.g. 15m for 15 metres.
 * The range in which the light is visible, e.g. "10M" for 10 nautical miles.

An example of a complete light characteristic is "Gp Oc(3) W 10s 15m 10M". This indicates that the light is a group occulting light in which a group of three eclipses repeat every 10 seconds; the light is white; the light is 15 metres above the chart datum and the nominal range is  10 nautical miles.

Fixed light
A fixed light, abbreviated "F", is a continuous and steady light.

Flashing light
A flashing light is a rhythmic light in which the total duration of the light in each period is clearly shorter than the total duration of the darkness and in which the flashes of light are all of equal duration. It is most commonly used for a single-flashing light which exhibits only single flashes which are repeated at regular intervals, in which case it is abbreviated simply as "Fl". It can also be used with a group of flashes which are regularly repeated, in which case the abbreviation is "Fl(2)" or "Gr Fl(2)", for a group of two flashes. Another possibility is a composite group, in which successive groups in the period have different numbers of flashes, e.g. "Fl. (2+1)" indicates a group of two flashes, followed by one flash.

A specific case sometimes used is when the flashes are longer than two seconds. Such a light is sometimes denoted "long flashing" with the abbreviation "L.Fl".

If the frequency of flashes is high (more than 30 or 50 per minute) the light is denoted as a "quick light", see below.

Occulting light
An occulting light is a rhythmic light in which the duration of light in each period is longer than the total duration of darkness. In other words, it is the opposite to a flashing light where the total duration of darkness is longer than the duration of light. It has the appearance of flashing off, rather than flashing on. Like a flashing light, it can be used for a single occulting light that exhibits only a single period of darkness or the periods of darkness can be grouped and repeated at regular intervals (abbreviated "Oc"), a group (Oc(3)) or a composite group (Oc(2+1)).

The term occulting is used because originally the effect was obtained by a mechanism (e.g. a vertical or rotating shutter) periodically shading the light from view.

Isophase light
An isophase light, abbreviated "Iso", is a light which has dark and light periods of equal length. The prefix derives from the Greek iso- meaning "same".

Quick light
A quick light, abbreviated "Q", is a special case of a flashing light with a high frequency (more than 30 or 50 per minute). If the sequence of flashes is interrupted by regularly repeated eclipses of constant and long duration, the light is denoted "interrupted quick", abbreviated "I.Q".

Group notation similar to flashing and occulting lights is also sometimes used, e.g. Q(9).

Another distinction sometimes made is between quick (more than 50 and less than 80 flashes per minute), very quick (more than 80 and less than 160 flashes per minutes, abbreviated "V.Q") and ultra quick (no less than 160 flashes per minute, abbreviate "U.Q"). This can be combined with notations for interruptions, e.g. I.U.Q for interrupted ultra quick, or grouping, e.g. V.Q(9) for a very quick group of nine flashes. Quick characteristics can also be followed by other characteristics, e.g. VQ(6) LFl for a very quick group of six flashes, followed by a long flash.

Morse code
A Morse code light is light in which appearances of light of two clearly different durations (dots and dashes) are grouped to represent a character or characters in the Morse Code. For example, "Mo(A)" is a light in which in each period light is shown for a short period (dot) followed by a long period (dash), the Morse Code for "A".

Fixed and flashing
A fixed and flashing light, abbreviated "F. Fl", is a light in which a fixed low intensity light is combined with a flashing high intensity light.

Alternating
An alternating light, abbreviated "Al", is a light which shows alternating colors. For example, "Al WG" shows white and green lights alternately.

Class of light

 * {| class="wikitable" width="90%" align="center"

! style="background:#efefef;" | Class of Light ! style="background:#efefef;" | Feature ! style="background:#efefef;" | Abbr. ! style="background:#efefef;" | Definition ! style="background:#efefef;" | Example ! style="background:#efefef;" | Representation
 * + Table I
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" |F
 * align="left" | A continuous, steady, light.
 * align="center" | F R
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" | [[File:Light Code F R.gif]]
 * colspan="6" align="left" |
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 2.1 Single-occulting
 * align="center |Oc
 * align="left" | A dark period is repeated regularly.
 * Oc R 6s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code Oc R 6s.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 2.2 Group-occulting
 * align="center |Oc(x)
 * align="left" | A group of dark periods are repeated regularly.
 * Oc(2) G 8s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code Oc (2) G 8s.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 2.3 Composite group-occulting
 * align="center |Oc(x+y)
 * align="left" | Light similar to group-occulting, except that successive groups in the same period contain different numbers of dark periods.
 * Oc(2+3) W 18s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code Oc(2+3) W 5s.gif]]
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" | Iso
 * align="left" | The duration of the light and dark periods are equal.
 * align="center" | Iso R 4s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" | [[File:Light Code Iso R 4s.gif]]
 * colspan="6" |
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 4.1 Single-flashing
 * align="center |Fl
 * align="left" | A flash is repeated regularly at a rate below 50 per minute.
 * Fl G 5s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code Fl G 5s.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 4.2 Long-flashing
 * align="center |L.Fl
 * align="left" | A light flash, duration of more than 2 seconds (long flash) is repeated regularly.
 * L.Fl W 10s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code LFl 10s.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 4.3 Group-flashing
 * align="center |Fl(x)
 * align="left" | A group of a specific number of flashes are repeated regularly.
 * Fl(3) R 15s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light_Code_Fl(3)_R_15s.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 4.4 Composite group-flashing
 * align="center |Fl(x+y)
 * align="left" | Similar to group-flashing, but with several groups of flashes.
 * Fl(2+1) W 15s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code Fl(2+1) W 5s.gif]]
 * colspan="6" align="left" |
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 5.1 Continuous quick
 * align="center |Q
 * align="left" | Quick flashes are repeated regularly.
 * Q W
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code Q W.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 5.2 Group quick
 * align="center |Q(x)
 * align="left" | Groups of a given number of quick flashes are repeated regularly.
 * Q(3) G 9s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code Q (3) G 9s.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 5.3 Interrupted quick
 * align="center |I.Q
 * align="left" | The sequence of flashes is regularly interrupted by dark intervals of constant duration.
 * I.Q R 14s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code IQ R 14s.gif]]
 * colspan="6" align="left" |
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 6.1 Continuous very quick
 * align="center |VQ
 * align="left" | Very quick flashes are repeated regularly.
 * VQ W
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code VQ.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 6.2 Group very quick
 * align="center |VQ(x)
 * align="left" | Groups of a given number of very quick flashes are repeated regularly.
 * VQ(3) G 4s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code VQ (3) G 4s.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 6.3 Interrupted very quick
 * align="center |I.VQ
 * align="left" | The sequence of flashes is regularly interrupted by dark intervals of constant duration.
 * I.VQ R 9s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code IVQ R 9s.gif]]
 * colspan="6" align="left" |
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 7.1 Continuous ultra quick
 * align="center |UQ
 * align="left" | Ultra quick flashes are repeated regularly.
 * UQ W
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code UQ.gif]]
 * - align="center"
 * align="left" | 7.2 Interrupted ultra quick
 * align="center |I.UQ
 * align="left" | The sequence of ultra quick flashes is regularly interrupted by dark intervals of constant duration.
 * I.UQ R 6s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code IUQ R 6s.gif]]
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" | Mo(x)
 * align="left" | The flashes have markedly different durations and are grouped together to form one or more characters in Morse code.
 * align="center" | Mo(K) G 6s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" |[[File:Light Code Mo(K) G 6s.gif]]
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" | F.Fl
 * align="left" | A light that combines a fixed light with a light flashing with a stronger intensity. The flashes of light may have any of the features described in above.
 * align="center" | F.Fl Y 5s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" |[[File:Light Code FFl Y 5s.gif]]
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" | Al
 * align="left" | Light that alternately displays different colors Note - The alternating light can be used in conjunction with most of the lights earlier classes.
 * align="center" | Al WR 3s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" |[[File:Light Code Al WR.gif]]
 * }
 * align="left" | 7.2 Interrupted ultra quick
 * align="center |I.UQ
 * align="left" | The sequence of ultra quick flashes is regularly interrupted by dark intervals of constant duration.
 * I.UQ R 6s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" | [[File:Light Code IUQ R 6s.gif]]
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" | Mo(x)
 * align="left" | The flashes have markedly different durations and are grouped together to form one or more characters in Morse code.
 * align="center" | Mo(K) G 6s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" |[[File:Light Code Mo(K) G 6s.gif]]
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" | F.Fl
 * align="left" | A light that combines a fixed light with a light flashing with a stronger intensity. The flashes of light may have any of the features described in above.
 * align="center" | F.Fl Y 5s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" |[[File:Light Code FFl Y 5s.gif]]
 * colspan="2" align="left" |
 * align="center" | Al
 * align="left" | Light that alternately displays different colors Note - The alternating light can be used in conjunction with most of the lights earlier classes.
 * align="center" | Al WR 3s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" |[[File:Light Code Al WR.gif]]
 * }
 * align="left" | Light that alternately displays different colors Note - The alternating light can be used in conjunction with most of the lights earlier classes.
 * align="center" | Al WR 3s
 * style="background:#3CB371;" align="center" |[[File:Light Code Al WR.gif]]
 * }
 * }

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Light characteristic


text:
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Predsjedništvo Bosne i Hercegovine) is a three-member body which collectively serves as head of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to Article V of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the presidency comprises three members: one Bosniak, one Serb, and one Croat. The Bosniak and Croat members are elected from a joint constituency in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whilst the Serb member is elected from voters in Republika Srpska.

The three members elected at any one election serve a collective four-year term. Individuals are able to serve no more than two consecutive four-year terms, although there are no overall term limits.

Although the unsubdivided body is the collective head of state, one member is designated as chairperson. The position of chairperson rotates twice around the three members every eight months, with the candidate receiving the most votes overall becoming the first chairperson over the four-year term.

Powers, duties and responsibilities

The Presidency is responsible for:
 * Conducting the foreign policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
 * Appointing ambassadors and other international representatives, no more than two-thirds of which may come from the Federation;
 * Representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in European and international organizations and institutions and seeking membership in such organizations and institutions of which it is not a member;
 * Negotiating, denouncing, and, with the consent of the Parliamentary Assembly, ratifying treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
 * Executing decisions of the Parliamentary Assembly;
 * Proposing, upon the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, an annual budget to the Parliamentary Assembly;
 * Reporting as requested, but no less than annually, to the Parliamentary Assembly on expenditures by the Presidency;
 * Coordinating as necessary with international and nongovernmental organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and;
 * Performing such other functions as may be necessary to carry out its duties, as may be assigned to it by the Parliamentary Assembly, or as may be agreed by the Entities.

title: Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina


text:
Prostitution in Germany

Prostitution in Germany is legal, as are other aspects of the sex industry, including brothels, advertisement, and job offers through HR companies. Full-service sex work is widespread and regulated by the German government, which levies taxes on it. In 2016, the government adopted a new law, the Prostitutes Protection Act, in an effort to improve the legal situation of sex workers, while also now enacting a legal requirement for registration of prostitution activity and banning prostitution which involves no use of condoms. The social stigmatization of sex work persists and many workers continue to lead a double life. Human rights organizations consider the resulting common exploitation of women from East Germany to be the main problem associated with the profession.

Middle Ages to Confederation (1815)
Sex work in historically German lands has never been outlawed and has been described since the Middle Ages. Since the 13th century, several German cities operated brothels known as Frauenhäuser ("women's houses"); the practice of sex work was considered a necessary evil, a position already held by Saint Augustine (354–430). Some municipalities actively encouraged it and far from existing on the margins, sex workers were often honoured guests, who maintained domestic order as an outlet and lesser evil to such things as adultery and rape. The city also gained tax revenues from the prostitutes.

Emperor Sigismund (1368–1437) thanked the city of Konstanz in writing for providing some 1,500 workers for the Council of Constance which took place from 1414 to 1418.

Sex workers were more vigorously persecuted beginning in the 16th century, with the start of the Reformation and the appearance of syphilis. In 1530, Charles V ordered the closure of brothels throughout the German Holy Roman Empire.

Section 999 of the 1794 General State Laws for the Prussian States determined that "dissolute female persons who want to do business with their bodies ... would have to go into the whoredom houses tolerated under the supervision of the state".

The Confederations (1815–1871)
Beginning in the 19th century, sex workers in many regions had to register with police or local health authorities and submit to regular health checks to curb venereal diseases.

The so-called Bremer Regulations of 1852 stated that prostitution was "not a trade in the true sense". By this distinction between prostitution and other trades, immorality of prostitution was defined in law.

German Empire (1871–1918)
In Imperial Germany (1871–1918) attitudes to sex work were ambivalent. While sex work was tolerated as a necessary function to provide for male sexuality outside of marriage, it was frowned on as a threat to contemporary moral images of women's sexuality. Therefore, state policy concentrated on regulation rather than abolition. This was mainly at the municipal level. The Criminal Code of 1871 prohibited brothels and "commercial fornication". In the 1876 version, prostitution was only punishable if the woman worked outside police supervision. State regulation at the time created an atmosphere which defined what was considered proper, and what was proper feminine sexuality.

Controls were particularly tight in the port city of Hamburg. The regulations included defining the dress and conduct of prostitutes both inside and outside the brothel, thus making the occupation define their lives as a separate class of women on the margins of society.

At the beginning of the 20th century, prostitution was considered "harmful to communities". Nevertheless, there existed or originated in the 20th century, various brothel and red-light districts such as Helenenstraße in Bremen (from 1878), Linienstraße in Dortmund (from 1904), Stahlstraße in Essen (from about 1900), Rampenloch in Minden (from 1908), Im Winkel in Bochum (from about 1912), and the Flaßhofstraße in Oberhausen (from 1910 and 1963). It is estimated that in 1900 there were 50,000 women working in Berlin (population 1 December 1900: 1,888,848).

Weimar Republic (1918–1933)
In Weimar-era Germany the economy collapsed due to the loss of the First World War and the imposition of war reparations at the Treaty of Versailles. As a result, the middle class lost their savings and the working class were unemployed. The Republic ended up printing money to pay its bills which lead to hyperinflation in 1923. The outcome of all of this was that women, including the millions of war widows, turned to prostitution. Licentiousness and streetwalking were common in this period and Weimar Berlin is famed for its decadence.

On a national scale, prostitution was officially proscribed, but within various locales, polices tolerated prostitutes if they were in state registry. Prostitutes were to have compulsory medical examines for STDs, banned from areas of large public gathering, and were required to give up personal freedoms of private residence, travel, and denying unwarranted search under the German moral police, Sittenpolizei. Unregistered prostitutes arrested for soliciting, or otherwise were not given the same legal protection or voice as average citizens, and due process was not practiced.

The Law for Combating Venereal Diseases was adopted in 1927, which decriminalized prostitution thus undoing the state-regulated system, Reglementierung.

Nazi era (1933–1945)
During the Nazi era, street based sex workers were seen as "asocial" and degenerate and were at times sent to concentration camps, especially to the Ravensbrück camp. The Nazis did not entirely disapprove of sex work though and instead installed a centralized system of city brothels, military brothels (Wehrmachtsbordelle), brothels for foreign forced laborers, and concentration camp brothels.

During the Second World War, the German Wehrmacht established about 100 Wehrmacht brothels in the occupied territories, including France, Poland, Italy, and Norway. Lothar-Günther Buchheim described his impressions from Brest: "If a large ship had arrived, the hookers simply laid there between sailors." Military prostitution was regulated, "Only a permit from the military command brothel allowed you to visit. Always use a condom (rubber protection). For the German soldiers there was a disinfectant syringe in the urethra."

Between 1942 and 1945, camp brothels were installed in ten concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Himmler intended these as an incentive for cooperative and hard-working non-Jewish and non-Russian inmates, in order to increase the productivity of the work camps. Initially the brothels were staffed mostly with former sex worker inmates who volunteered, but women were also put under pressure to work there. In the documentary film, Memory of the Camps, a project supervised by the British Ministry of Information and the American Office of War Information during the summer of 1945, camera crews filmed women who stated that they were forced into sexual slavery for the use of guards and favored prisoners. The filmmakers stated that as the women died they were replaced by women from the concentration camp Ravensbrück.

None of the women who were forced to work in these concentration camp brothels ever received compensation, since the German compensation laws do not cover persons designated as "asocial" by the Nazis.

In a famous case of espionage, the Nazi intelligence service SD took over the luxurious Berlin brothel Salon Kitty and equipped it with listening devices and specially trained sex workers. From 1939 to 1942 the brothel was used to spy on important visitors.

German Democratic Republic (GDR 1945–1990)
After World War II, the country was divided into East Germany (German Democratic Republic) and West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949–90). In East Germany, as in all countries of the communist Eastern Bloc, full-service sex work was illegal and according to the official position, it did not exist. There were high-class sex workers working in the hotels of East Berlin and the other major cities, mainly targeting Western visitors; the Stasi employed some of these for spying purposes. Street-based workers were available for the pleasure of visiting Westerners, too.

Federal Republic of Germany (BRD 1945–2001)
In West Germany, the registration and testing requirements remained in place but were handled quite differently in the regions of the country. In Bavaria, in addition to scheduled Sexually transmitted disease (STD) check-ups, regular tests for HIV were required from 1987, but this was an exception. Many sex workers did not submit to these tests, avoiding the registration. A study in 1992 found that only 2.5% of the tested workers had a disease, a rate much lower than the one among comparable non-sex workers.

In 1967, Europe's largest brothel at the time, the six-floor Eros Center, was opened on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. An even larger one, the twelve-floor building now called Pascha in Cologne was opened in 1972. The AIDS scare of the late 1980s had an effect on the business, and the Eros Center closed, as well as several other brothels in Hamburg. The Pascha continued to flourish, and has evolved into a chain with additional brothels in Munich and Salzburg.

Anything which led to the "promotion of prostitution" (Förderung der Prostitution) remained a crime until 2001, even after the extensive criminal law reforms of 1973. This placed operators of brothels under the threat of potential legal action. Most brothels were, therefore, run as a bar with an attached but legally separate room rental. Many municipalities built, ran and profited from high rise or townhouse-style high-rent Dirnenwohnheime (lit.: "whores' dormitories"), to keep street-based sex work and pimping under control. Here workers sold sex in a room they rented by the day. These establishments, called "Laufhäuser" in Johns' jargon are now mostly privatized and operate as Eros Centers. Even before the 2001 reform, many upmarket sex workers operated in their own apartments, alone or with other women. Luxurious country houses, called "FKK-Sauna-Clubs" are the exclusive end of prostitution in Germany. There, women and men pay the same entrance fees ranging from about €50 to 100 and usually include meals and drinks and the sex workers negotiate their deals with the individual clients, thus avoiding the appearance of pimping ("Zuhälterei"). Illegal variations on that business model, like "Flaterate-Clubs" and "Pauschalclubs" also exist and advertise openly in daily newspapers and the Internet. These establishments charge an "all-you-can handle" fee of about €75 to €90.

Before the 2002 prostitution law, the highest courts of Germany repeatedly ruled that sex work offends good moral order (verstößt gegen die guten Sitten), with several legal consequences. Any contract that is considered immoral is null and void, so a sex worker could not sue for payment. Sex workers working out of their apartments could lose their leases. Finally, bars and inns could be denied a licences if sex work took place on their premises.

In 1999, Felicitas Weigmann lost the licence for her Berlin cafe Psst!, because the cafe was being used to initiate contacts between customers and sex work and had an attached room-rental also owned by Weigmann. She sued the city, arguing that society's position had changed and sex work no longer qualified as offending the moral order. The judge conducted an extensive investigation and solicited a large number of opinions. In December 2000 the court agreed with Weigmann's claim. This ruling is considered as precedent and important factor in the realization of the Prostitution Law of 1 January 2002. Only after an appeal process though, filed by the Berlin town district, was Weigmann to regain her café license in October 2002.

The compulsory registration and testing of workers was abandoned in 2001. Anonymous, free and voluntary health testing has been made available to everyone, including illegal immigrants. Many brothel operators require these tests.

Legislative reform (2002)
In 2002, a one-page law sponsored by the Green Party was passed by the ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens in the Bundestag. The law, the Prostitution Act (Prostitutionsgesetz), removed the general prohibition on furthering full-service sex work and allowed sex workers to obtain regular work contracts. The law's rationale stated that sex work should not be considered as immoral anymore.

The law has been criticized as having not effectively changed the situation of the sex workers, believed to be because some workers themselves don't want to change their working conditions and contracts. The German government issued a report on the law's impact in January 2007, concluding that few sex workers had taken advantage of regular work contracts and that work conditions had improved only for 35% workers.

Post 2002
Between 2000 and 2003, the visa issuing policies of German consulates were liberalized. The opposition claimed that this resulted in an increase in human trafficking and sex workers entering the country illegally, especially from Ukraine. The episode led to hearings in 2005 and is known as the German Visa Affair 2005.

In 2004, the Turkish gang leader Necati Arabaci was sentenced to 9 years in prison for pimping, human trafficking, assault, extortion, weapons violations and racketeering. His gang of bouncers controlled the night clubs in Cologne's entertainment district, the Ring, where they befriended girls in order to exploit them as sex workers. After Arabaci's arrest, informants overheard threats against the responsible prosecutor, who received police protection and fled the country in 2007 when Arabaci was deported to Turkey.

In 2004, the large FKK-brothel Colosseum opened in Augsburg, and police suspected a connection to Arabaci's gang, which owned several similar establishments and was supposedly directed from prison by its convicted leader.

After several raids, police determined that the managers of the brothel dictated the prices that the women had to charge, prohibited them from sitting in groups or using cell phones during work, set the work hours, searched rooms and handbags, and made them work completely nude (charging a penalty of €10 per infraction). In April 2006, five men were charged with pimping. The court quashed the charges, arguing that the prostitution law of 2002 created a regular employer-employee relationship and thus gave the employer certain rights to direct the working conditions. Colosseum remained in business.

In early 2005, the media in Great Britain reported that a woman refusing to take a job as a sex worker might have her unemployment benefits reduced or removed altogether. A similar account had appeared in mid-2003; a woman received a job offer through a private employment agency. In this case, the agency apologized for the mistake, stating that a request for a sex worker would normally have been rejected, but the client misled them, describing the position as "a female barkeeper." To date, there have been no reported cases of women actually losing benefits in such a case, and the employment agencies have stated that women would not be made to work in sex work.

In March 2007, the brothel "Pascha" in Cologne announced that senior citizens above the age of 66 would receive a discount during afternoons; half of the price of €50 for a "normal session" would be covered by the house. Earlier, in 2004, a 20% discount for long-term unemployed had been announced by a brothel in Dresden.

Also in 2007, authorities in Berlin began to close several apartment brothels that had existed for many years. They cited a 1983 court decision that found that the inevitable disturbances caused by brothels were incompatible with residential areas. Sex workers' rights groups and brothel owners fought these efforts. They commissioned a study that concluded that apartment brothels in general neither promote criminality nor disturb neighbors.

The economic downturn of 2009 has resulted in changes at some brothels. Reduced prices and free promotions are now found. Some changes, the result of modern marketing tools, rebates, gimmicks. Brothels introducing all-inclusive flat-rates, free shuttle buses, discounts for seniors and taxi drivers. "Day passes." Some brothels reportedly including loyalty cards, group sex parties, rebates for golf players. Clients have reported reducing their number of weekly visits.

In 2009, the Bundessozialgericht ruled that the German job agencies are not required to find sex workers for open positions in brothels. The court rejected the complaint of a brothel owner who had argued that the law of 2002 had turned sex work into a job like any other; the judges ruled that the law had been passed to protect the employees, not to further the business.

The effects of the reforms continue to be debated. A five-part series in Der Spiegel in 2013 claimed it was a failure. Others have argued that, while the German model still has many weaknesses, it has reduced violence against sex workers.

In 2014, a startup in Berlin launched Peppr, an app for prostitution.

The Criminal Code was amended in October 2016 to criminalise clients of trafficked or coerced prostitutes. This change was led by Social Democrat Eva Högl.

The Prostituiertenschutzgesetz (Prostitutes Protection Act) came into force in July 2017. Amongst the provision of the Act are registration of prostitutes, annual health checks and mandatory condom use. Brothel operators also need to register and prove their 'good conduct' before registration. The legislation also places restrictions on advertising.

Football World Cup 2006
Officials speculated that up to 40,000 illegal sex workers, mainly from Eastern European countries, would enter Germany for the Football World Cup, held in Germany in the summer of 2006. Women and church groups were planning a "Red card to forced prostitution" campaign with the aim of alerting World Cup visitors to the existence of forced sex trafficking. They asked for support from the national football team and the national football organization but were initially rebuffed. In March 2006, the president of the German football federation turned around and agreed to support a campaign named "Final Whistle – Stop Forced Prostitution". The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Nordic Council and Amnesty International also expressed concern over an increase in the trafficking of women and forced sex trafficking up to and during the World Cup.

In March 2006, the campaign "Responsible John. Prostitution without compulsion and violence" was started by the government of Berlin. It provides a list of signs of forced sex trafficking and urges sex workers' customers to call a hotline if they spot one of those signs.

In April 2006, an advertisement for the Pascha brothel in Cologne that featured a several story-high image of a half-naked young woman with the flags of 2006 FIFA World Cup countries sparked outrage after Muslims were offended by the inclusion of the Saudi Arabian and Iranian flags. Pascha's owner, Armin Lobscheid, said a group of Muslims had threatened violence over the advertisement, and he blacked out the two flags. The Tunisian flag that features the Muslim crescent remained on the advertisement.

On 30 June 2006, The New York Times reported that the expected increase in prostitution activity around the World Cup had not taken place. This was confirmed by the 2006 BKA report on human trafficking, which reported only five cases of human trafficking related to the World Cup.

COVID-19 pandemic
Social distancing as a preventative measure during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany caused a marked reduction in the number of visitors to brothels, some operators reporting a 50% reduction in business. Several federal states ordered entertainment venues to close on 14 March 2020, followed by the Central Government ordering a nationwide closure on 22 March 2020. (Brothels are classed as entertainment venues in Germany.)

According to Susanne Bleier Wilp of the Association for Erotic and Sexual Services Providers lobby group in Berlin, 80% of the prostitutes working in Germany at the time were foreign, mainly from Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and Ukraine. Many of them lived in the brothels. Whilst most returned to their home countries, some were made homeless by the brothel closures.

The Berufsverband erotische und sexuelle Dienstleistungen (Professional association for erotic and sexual services) published a new hygiene concept for sex workers. It had three parts, one for sex workers who work in their own apartments, one for escorts and one for street prostitutes.

Thuringia
The Thuringian Corona Ordinance decided to keep all the prostitution-related facilities closed until 31 August 2020. The hygiene concepts referred to by brothel operators were all denied. Due to the physical closeness related to such services, it was impossible to counteract the dangers of getting infected effectively.

Hamburg
On Herbertstraße on St. Pauli, 400 prostitutes and brothel operators protested for the reopening of brothels on 11 July 2020. According to the professional association for erotic and sexual services, the fact that body-related services such as tattoo studios, hairdressers and massage salons were allowed to work during the COVID-19 crisis was unfair.

Munich
By March 2020, all brothels in Trudering, Munich were closed due to the coronavirus crisis. Prostitutes continued to work outside of regulated establishments. They were allowed to set appointments with clients in the non-restricted areas of the city. As long as brothels were not allowed to open, prostitution continued to take place outside the brothels.

Extent of prostitution and associated issues
Studies in the early 1990s estimated that about 50,000–200,000 women and some men did sex work in Germany. The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, published in 1997, reported that over 100,000 women work in prostitution in Germany. A 2005 study gave 200,000 as a "halfway realistic estimate". The prostitutes' organization Hydra puts the number at 400,000, and this number is typically quoted in the press today. A 2009 study by TAMPEP also gave the Hydra estimate of 400,000 full or part-time prostitutes, with 93% being gender female, 3% transgender and 4% gender male.

The same study found that 63% of the sex workers in Germany were foreigners, with two thirds of them coming from Central and Eastern Europe. In 1999 the proportion of foreign sex workers had been 52%. The increase was attributed to the EU enlargement.

From other studies, it is estimated that between 10% and 30% of the male adult population have had experiences with sex workers. Of those 17-year-old males in West Germany with experience of intercourse, 8% have had sex with a sex worker.

A 2009 survey identified the following main vulnerability factors for German sex workers (in the order of importance):
 * 1) Financial problems, including debts and poverty.
 * 2) Violence and abuse by police, clients, and pimps.
 * 3) No professional identity; lack of self-confidence.
 * 4) Stigma and discrimination.
 * 5) Exploitative personal dependencies.

Street prostitution (Straßenstrich)
Regular street-based sex work is often quite well organized and controlled by pimps. Most cities established "Sperrbezirke" (off-limits zones) and charge the street based workers an amusement tax, that in the city of Bonn for instance is paid by the sex workers at parking meters, six euro for a period of about eight night hours. The same fee is collected from sex workers in apartments and brothels, sometimes by municipal tax collectors in person. Some sex workers have a nearby caravan, others use the customer's car, still, others use hotel rooms. With recent economic problems, in some large cities "wild" street-based sex work has started to appear: areas where women work temporarily out of short-term financial need. A "sex drive-in", or "Verrichtungsbox", is a facility of structures to enclose cars to provide a safer place for sex work using cars.

Prostitution for the procurement of narcotics
In every major German city, there are prostitutes who offer their services to procure drugs. This often takes place near the main railway stations, while the act usually takes place in the customer's car or in a nearby rented room. These prostitutes are the most desperate, often underage, and their services are generally the cheapest. Pimps and brothel owners try to avoid drug-addicted prostitutes, as they are inclined to spend their earnings solely or primarily on drugs. Other prostitutes tend to look down on them as well, because they are considered as lowering the market prices.

In a unique effort to move drug-addicted streetwalkers out of the city center and reduce violence against these women, the city of Cologne in 2001 created a special area for tolerated street prostitution in Geestemünder Straße. Dealers and pimps are not tolerated, the parking places have alarm buttons and the women are provided with a cafeteria, showers, clean needles and counselling. The project, modelled on the Dutch tippelzones, is supervised by an organisation of Catholic women. A positive scientific evaluation was published in 2004.

Bars
In bars, women try to induce men to buy expensive drinks along with sexual services. Sex usually takes place in a separate but attached building. Prices are mostly set by the bar owner and the money is shared between the owner and the prostitute. The prevalence of such practices has diminished as a result of the registration obligation in the Prostitutes Protection Act.

Eros centers (Bordell, Laufhaus)
An eros center is a house (Laufhaus) or street (Laufstraße) where women can rent small one-room apartments for 80–150 euro per day. Then they solicit customers from the open door or from behind a window. Prices are normally set by the prostitutes; they start at 250–500 euros for short-time sex. The money is not shared with the brothel owner. Security and meals are provided by the owner. The women may even live in their rooms, but most do not. Minors and women not working in the eros center are not allowed to enter. Eros centers exist in almost all larger German cities. The most famous is the Herbertstraße near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. The largest brothel in Europe is the eros center Pascha in Cologne, a 12-storey building with some 120 rooms for rent and several bars.

Apartment prostitution (Wohnungspuffs)
There are many of these advertised in the daily newspapers. Sometimes run by a single woman or man and sometimes by a group of roommates.

Partytreffs and Pauschalclubs
These are a variation on partner-swapping swing clubs with (sometimes, but not always) paid prostitutes in attendance, as well as 'amateur' women and couples. Single men pay a flat-rate entrance charge of about €80 to €150, which includes food, drink and unrestricted sexual activity, with the requirement that these are performed in the open in full view of all the guests. Women normally pay a low or zero entrance charge.

FKK sauna clubs
Typically, these are brothels in houses or large buildings, often with swimming pool and sauna, a large 'meet and greet' room with bar and buffet on the ground floor, TV/video screens, and bedrooms on the upper floor(s). Operating hours are usually from late morning until after midnight. The female sex workers are typically nude, wearing only high heels. The term FKK is a euphemism, erroneously referring to the German FKK 'Freikörperkultur' nudist culture. In some clubs the sex workers are topless instead of nude. Meanwhile the customers and club members wear robes or towels. Men and women often pay the same entrance fee, from €35 to €70, including use of all facilities and refreshments (beer is allowed, but most FKK sauna clubs do not allow liquor). Some clubs will admit couples. This form of prostitution, which was mentioned in the rationale of the 2002 prostitution law as providing good working conditions for the women workers, exists all over Germany, Austria and parts of the Netherlands, but mainly in the Rhein-Ruhrgebiet and in the area around Frankfurt am Main. Among the largest clubs of this type are: Artemis in Berlin, opened in the fall of 2005, the new Harem in Bad Lippspringe and the long-established FKK World near Giessen and FKK Oase in the countryside near Bad Homburg.

Escort services (Begleitagenturen)
Escort services, where a potential male client calls for a woman to visit a residence or at a hotel for sexual services, exist in Germany.

For special groups
Sexual services for the disabled and elderly. The agency Sensis in Wiesbaden connects prostitutes with disabled customers. Nina de Vries somewhat controversially provides sexual services to severely mentally disabled men and has been repeatedly covered in the media. Professional training is available for 'sex assistants'.

Forms of male prostitution
A comparatively small number of males offer sexual services to females, usually in the form of escort services, meeting in hotels. The vast majority of male prostitutes serve male clients. In 2007 it was estimated that there were 2,500 male prostitutes in Berlin. The above-mentioned Pascha brothel in Cologne reserves one entire floor for male and transgender prostitutes.

Legal situation
Prostitution is legal in Germany. However, since 2017, prostitutes are required to obtain two-year valid registration certificates after undergoing prescribed health advice, while businesses involved in prostitution must possess legal permits. Both prostitution without the use of condoms and the advertisement of prostitution involving either no condoms or pregnant women, are illegal as well. Prostitutes may work as regular employees with contract and also supposed to register with the local authority which provides them a certificate of registration, colloquially called Hurenpass, though the vast majority work independently. Brothels are registered businesses that need a special brothel licence; if food and alcoholic drinks are offered, the standard restaurant licence is also required.

Prostitutes have to pay income taxes and have to charge VAT for their services, to be paid to the tax office. In practice, prostitution is a cash business and taxes are not always paid, though enforcement has been strengthened. The Länder North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden Württemberg and Berlin have initiated a system where prostitutes have to pay their taxes in advance, a set amount per day, to be collected and paid to tax authorities by the brothel owners. North Rhine-Westphalia charges €25 per day per prostitute, while Berlin charges €30. In May 2007, authorities were considering plans for a uniform country-wide system charging €25 per day.

Until 2002, prostitutes and brothels were technically not allowed to advertise, but that prohibition was not enforced. The Bundesgerichtshof ruled in July 2006 that, as a consequence of the new prostitution law, advertising of sexual services is no longer illegal. Many newspapers carry daily ads for brothels and for women working out of apartments. Many prostitutes and brothels have websites on the Internet. In addition, sex shops and newsstands sell magazines specialising in advertisements of prostitutes ("Happy Weekend", "St Pauli Nachrichten", "Sexy" and many more).

Foreign women from European Union countries are allowed to work as prostitutes in Germany. Women from other countries can obtain three-month tourist visas for Germany. If they work in prostitution, it is illegal, because the tourist visa does not include a work permit.

Pimping, (Zuhälterei = exploiting and/or controlling a sex worker) admitting prostitutes under the age of eighteen to a brothel, and influencing persons under the age of twenty-one to take up or continue work in prostitution, are illegal. It is also illegal to contract sex services from any person younger than 18, per Article 182 (paragraph 2) of the Criminal Code. Before 2008 this age limit was 16. This law also applies to Germans traveling abroad, to combat child prostitution occurring in the context of sex tourism.

Municipal regulation
The first city in Germany to introduce an explicit prostitution tax was Cologne. The tax was initiated early in 2004 by the city council led by a coalition of the conservative CDU and the leftist Greens. This tax applies to striptease, peep shows, porn cinemas, sex fairs, massage parlors, and prostitution. In the case of prostitution, the tax amounts to €150 per month and working prostitute, to be paid by brothel owners or by privately working prostitutes. (The area Geestemünder Straße mentioned above is exempt.) Containment of prostitution was one explicitly stated goal of the tax. In 2006 the city took in €828,000 through this tax. The neighboring city of Bonn collects a nightly sex work tax of six euro from street prostitutes in the Immenburgstrasse by vending machines identical to German parking meters. All other areas of the city are Sperrbezirk (off-limits for street prostitution).

Every city has the right to zone off certain areas where prostitution is not allowed (Sperrbezirk). Prostitutes found working in these areas can be fined or, when persistent, jailed. The various cities handle this very differently. In Berlin prostitution is allowed everywhere, and Hamburg allows street prostitution near the Reeperbahn during certain times of the day. Almost the entire center of Munich is Sperrbezirk, and under-cover police have posed as clients to arrest prostitutes. In Leipzig, street prostitution is forbidden almost everywhere, and the city even has a local law allowing police to fine customers who solicit prostitution in public. In most smaller cities, the Sperrbezirk includes the immediate city center as well as residential areas. Several states prohibit brothels in small towns (such as towns with fewer than 35,000 inhabitants).

This concept has been the subject of a number of legal challenges. In North Rhine-Westphalia a Minden court has ruled against 'Sperrbezirk', as have courts in Hesse and Bavaria. The court ruled that a general prohibition of prostitution infringed a basic right to choose one's occupation, as laid down in the 2002 Prostitution Act.

Health
Annual health checks for prostitutes are mandated by law in Germany. Previously, in Bavaria (Bayern), law mandates the use of condoms for sexual intercourse with prostitutes, including oral contact. In 2017 this was extended to the whole of Germany.

Crime
The 1957 murder of the high-class prostitute Rosemarie Nitribitt in Frankfurt drew great media attention in postwar Germany. The circumstances of her death remain obscure. Police investigations turned up no substantial leads other than a prime suspect who was later acquitted due to reasonable doubt. Several high-profile, respectable citizens turned out to have been among her customers, a fact on which the media based insinuations that higher social circles might be covering up and obstructing the search for the real murderer. The scandal inspired two movies.

Werner Pinzner was a contract murderer active in the brothel scene of Hamburg in the 1980s. Captured in 1986, he confessed to eight murders of people involved in prostitution businesses. His long-time female lawyer and his wife conspired to smuggle a gun into the Hamburg police headquarters on 29 July 1986, and Pinzner proceeded to kill the attending prosecutor, his wife and himself. The lawyer was sentenced to six years in prison for aiding in murder.

Six persons were murdered in a brothel in Frankfurt am Main in 1994. The Hungarian couple managing the place as well as four Russian prostitutes were strangled with electric cables. The case was resolved soon after: it was a robbery gone bad, carried out by the husband of a woman who had worked there.

In 2012 it was reported that police were investigating the owners of a number of high-class brothels in Düsseldorf. Allegedly, numerous customers had been incapacitated with date rape drugs or other drugs in order to charge exorbitant amounts to their credit cards; those who complained were blackmailed with video footage.

Organized crime
According to Klaus Bayerl, head of the Kriminalpolizei Augsburg, the large brothels created since 2002 are facilities in which official directors are irreproachable persons, while the background, the brothels are run by pimps or criminal gangs and almost always have close ties to organised crime.

Competing for supremacy in the red-light districts include several motorcycle gangs. Again and again there were massive clashes between the Bandidos and the Hells Angels. Both associations are known arms and drug traffickers and promoters of prostitution.

Involved in the fight for control of the red-light districts are the Black Jackets. In 2013, the Lustpark brothel in Neu-Ulm was being used as a weapons warehouse by the Black Jackets. It became known in 2012 that the Dutch gang Satudarah MC were active in Germany. Satudarah is deeply involved in prostitution, drug trafficking and violent crime.

Likewise, the bouncer Gang United Tribuns are involved in the power struggle. The bouncer scene is considered a key position also in recruiting new prostitutes. Other organisations involved in prostitution and trafficking include the Gremium MC, Outlaws MC, the Red Legion, and the Rock Machine MC, whose members are involved in the dispute with the brothel Murat C. in Neu-Ulm in December 2012 when someone was shot.

One of the leading figures in the scene is the German-Turkish Necati Arabaci. He is involved, inter alia, in the brothels Babylon in Elsdorf near Cologne and Wiago in Leverkusen, and also in brothels in Augsburg and Mallorca among others. In 2013 the Augsburg prosecutor established suspicion of money laundering against a person connected to the Hells Angels in the large Colosseum brothel in Augsburg.

The Hanoverian Frank Hanebuth was arrested in July 2013 in Mallorca, Spain, along with 20 other Hells Angels members. As head of the Hells Angels Spanish chapter, he is accused of forming a criminal organisation, promoting illegal prostitution, drug trafficking and money laundering. Hanebuth had acquired several Spanish brothels and is also involved in the mistreatment of prostitutes.

André Schulz, head of the German Criminal Investigation Association warned in July 2016 of "an escalation of turf wars between enemy biker gangs in Germany".

Sex trafficking
Illegal human trafficking is a major focus of police work in Germany, yet it remains prevalent. In 2007, Germany was listed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as a top destination for victims of human trafficking.

In 2009, 710 victims of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation were discovered, an increase of 5% in comparison with 2008.

In 2008, authorities identified 676 sex-trafficking victims.

In 2007, law enforcement authorities recorded 689 victims trafficked for sexual exploitation. Most victims (419) were between the ages of 18 and 24; 184 were nationals of the country. Approximately 12 percent were under the age of 18, including 39 citizens. One percent (seven) were under 14 years of age.

The trafficking in women from Eastern Europe is often organized by perpetrators from that same region. The German Federal Police Office BKA reported in 2006 a total of 357 completed investigations of human trafficking, with 775 victims. Thirty-five percent of the suspects were Germans born in Germany and 8% were German citizens born outside of Germany.

According to the report, in 2006 about 35% of the victims of human trafficking reported that they had agreed from the beginning to work in prostitution; often they did not know about the working conditions and debts incurred. Some others hoped for a job as waitress, maid or au pair; some were simply abducted. Once in Germany, their passports are sometimes taken away and they are informed that they now have to work off the cost of the trip. Sometimes they are brokered to pimps or brothel operators, who then make them work off the purchase price. They work in brothels, bars, apartments; as streetwalkers or as escorts and have to hand over the better part of their earnings. Some women reconcile themselves with this situation as they still make much more money than they could at home; others rebel and are threatened or abused. They are, reportedly, sometimes told that the police have been paid off and will not help them, which is false. They are, reportedly, also threatened with harm to their families at home.

The report states that victims are often unwilling to testify against their oppressors: the only incentive they have to do so is the permission to remain in the country until the end of the trial (with the hope of finding a husband during that time), rather than being deported immediately. Prostitutes from EU countries are not prohibited from traveling to and working in Germany. There is a large influx from Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Romania, for instance. Actually, the income prospects for them are not larger than at home, but they prefer to work in the better and safer German environment, as long as they can avoid pimps exploiting and controlling them. German law enforcement aggressively tries to eradicate pimping. In one raid in 2013 near Bonn, 24 males were arrested for exploiting prostitutes, one of them just 15 years old.

Scandals and news coverage
In 2003, German CDU politician Michel Friedman, popular TV talk show host and then assistant chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, became embroiled in an investigation of trafficking women. He had been a client of several escort prostitutes from Eastern Europe who testified that he had repeatedly taken and offered cocaine. After receiving a fine for the drug charge, he resigned from all posts. Since 2004 he has been hosting a weekly talk show on the TV channel N24.

Also in 2003, artist and art professor Jörg Immendorff was caught in the luxury suite of a Düsseldorf hotel with seven prostitutes (and four more on their way) and some cocaine. He admitted to having staged several such orgies and received 11 months on probation and a fine for the drug charges. He attempted to explain his actions by his "orientalism" and terminal illness.

In 2012, Bettina Wulff, the ex-wife of German ex-president Christian Wulff, won several court settlements with some media outlets and the search engine Google requiring them to not connect her with an alleged past as a prostitute.

Politics
The coalition of Social Democrats and the Green Party that governed the country from 1998 until late 2005 attempted to improve the legal situation of prostitutes in the years 2000–2003. These efforts were criticized as inadequate by prostitutes' organizations such as Hydra, which lobby for full normality of the occupation and the elimination of all mention of prostitution from the legal code. The conservative parties in the Bundestag, while supporting the goal of improving prostitutes' access to the social security and health care system, have opposed the new law because they want to retain the "offending good morals" status.

German churches run several support groups for prostitutes. These generally favor attempts to remove stigmatization and improve the legal situation of prostitutes, but they retain the long term abolitionist goal of a world without prostitution and encourage all prostitutes to leave the occupation.

Alice Schwarzer rejects all prostitution as inherently oppressive and abusive; she favors a legal arrangement similar to the situation in Sweden, wherein 1999 after heavy feminist lobbying a coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and leftists outlawed the buying but not the selling of sexual services. German-American journalist and men's rights activist Jerry Hoss likens the push for prostitution prohibition to a demand for a "final solution of the prostitution problem by Feminazis." He asserts that pimping, forced labor, abduction, false imprisonment, illegal immigration, extortion, rape, bodily injury, etc. are already strictly forbidden in Germany and no new laws are needed, just better enforcement.

In 2005, the ruling grand coalition of CDU and SPD announced plans to punish customers of forced prostitutes, if the customer could reasonably have been aware of the situation. In April 2009, it was reported that the plans would provide for a penalty of up to 5 years in prison. The law had not been enacted when the center-right CDU-FDP coalition came to power in November 2009. In 2014, the coalition of CDU and SPD renewed their plans to increase regulation and control of prostitution. Several organisations protested against these plans, amongst them prostitutes organisations as Hydra, Doña Carmen, the 'Berufsverband erotische und sexuelle Dienstleistungen', and an anonymous group of customers, the Freieroffensive. In 2016 and 2017 many of the proposals were brought into law.

title: Prostitution in Germany


text:
En Esch

Nicklaus Schandelmaier, (born 23 March 1968) is a German musician, better known by his stage name En Esch, and has been a member of the bands KMFDM, Pigface, Slick Idiot, and .

History
En Esch, born near Frankfurt, is an orchestra percussionist, drummer, programmer, producer, sound mixer, guitarist and singer. He was a member of the German industrial rock group, KMFDM, from 1985 to 1999, during which time he contributed to ten studio albums and more than a dozen singles as musician, composer and producer.

Sascha Konietzko claims to have given Esch his nickname because the latter felt that his real name was inappropriate for the stage. It is derived from the German pronunciation of his initials (N. Sch.). Esch lived in Germany until 1992, when he moved to Chicago to join Konietzko, who had moved there a year earlier.

It was at this time that Esch first worked with Pigface, whom he also toured with in the early 1990s. This would be the first time Esch "left" KMFDM and Sascha would proclaim Money as their last album together. After moving to New Orleans he released a solo album, Cheesy, in 1993. While Konietzko eventually relocated to Seattle, WA, Esch would adhere to his nomadic ways and eventually wind up in NYC in the mid to late 90's. Esch would also "leave the band" in 1996 resulting in minimal output into the album Xtort, although Sascha did not proclaim the band "done" this time, not until 1999's poignantly titled Adios. Esch would not return when KMFDM "reformed" in 2002 and has not appeared on any albums post-Adios.

When KMFDM broke up in 1999, Esch briefly worked with the band Pizza Whore, which changed its name to Barely Legal, and included Trixie Reiss of The Crystal Method. The band did not last, and Esch began traveling to Canada to visit Günter Schulz, the former KMFDM guitarist. They formed Slick Idiot, and released their first album in 2001. They have released two more albums under that moniker since then.

Esch has since begun working actively with Pigface again, joining them on tour in 2005.

Esch was rumored to be the replacement lead singer of industrial group Rammstein, but this turned out to be a hoax.

In 2007, he began collaborating with fellow German musician Mona Mur. The two released the album 120 Tage in February 2009, and toured together in support of the release over the next two years. Esch and Mur joined Schulz, Raymond Watts, and Mark Durante to perform at the Wax Trax! Retrospectacle in Chicago, a charity event celebrating the industrial music label, and performed KMFDM songs from the 1990s. A second album by the duo of Esch and Mur was released in 2011.

A second solo album, Spänk, was successfully crowdfunded and released in late 2014. His third solo album, Trash Chic, was originally scheduled for release on 31 May 2016, but was postponed to 1 July. Esch would hit the road in support of Trash Chic, opening for, and playing guitar, in 's live band, alongside former Slick Idiot guitarist Guenter Shulz.

Personal life
Esch is a vegetarian and an animal rights activist. He currently resides in Berlin.

Solo

 * Cheesy (1993)
 * Confidence (single) (1993)
 * Spänk (2014)
 * Trash Chic (2016)
 *  Et Nos Unum Sumus  (2023)

Slick Idiot

 * DickNity (2001)
 * ReDickUlous (2003)
 * Screwtinized (2004)
 * Xscrewciating (2006)
 * Sucksess (2009)

with Jost Band

 * W.A.S.A. (We Are Still Alive) (1980)

with Pigface

 * Gub (1990)
 * Welcome to Mexico... Asshole (1991)
 * Fook (1992)
 * Washingmachine Mouth (1992)
 * Truth Will Out (1993)
 * Easy Listening... (2003)
 * 6 (2009)

with Mona Mur

 * 120 Tage - The Fine Art of Beauty and Violence (2009)
 * Do With Me What You Want (2011)

with FM Einheit and Mona Mur

 * Terre Haute (2013)

with Pig

 * The Gospel (2016)
 * Risen (2018)
 * Pain Is God (2020)

title: En Esch


text:
KTAS (disambiguation)

KTAS is a television station in California.

KTAS may also refer to:
 * Kjøbenhavns Telefon Aktieselskab, a former Danish telephone company (now part of TDC)
 * Knots true airspeed, the speed of the aircraft relative to the airmass in which it is flying

title: KTAS (disambiguation)


text:
Wikipedia:Navigation template

A navigation template is a grouping of links used in multiple related articles to facilitate navigation between those articles. Editing of a navigation template is done in a central place, the template page.

There are two main varieties of navigation template: navigation boxes (or navboxes), designed to sit at the very bottom of articles, and sidebars, designed to sit at the side of the article text. The two are complementary and either or both may be appropriate in different situations.

The usual way to create navigation templates is to use the navbox or sidebar master templates. This simplifies the process of creating a functional and consistent template.

Do not rely solely on navboxes for links to articles highly relevant to a particular article. Navboxes are not displayed on the mobile website for Wikipedia, which accounts for around half of readers. See Phabricator ticket for progress on the mobile issue.

Navboxes are categorized under Category:Navigational boxes. Some WikiProjects maintain a list of their navigation templates.

Types
The two main types of navigation template are navboxes and sidebars. The two serve similar purposes: to allow related subjects to link to each other easily in a consistent manner.

 * Navboxes are footer templates that sit below the standard article appendices and are laid out horizontally. They are created using the navbox template. An example navbox template is shown below:

 * Sidebars sit alongside content, in the same manner as infoboxes, and are predominantly laid out vertically. They are created using the sidebar template. An example sidebar is shown to the right:

The two types are used interchangeably, and either or both may be appropriate in different circumstances. The primary differences between the two are:

 * Navboxes are laid out horizontally, and so work best for longer lists of links in a small number of sub-categories. As they are placed at the very bottom of articles, they are better for broader lists of links than would be appropriate in a sidebar. Articles often have more than one navbox and content may overlap to a degree: nevertheless, not everything needs a navbox, so navbox templates should only be created when they would be genuinely useful as navigational tools.
 * Sidebars are laid out predominantly vertically, and are placed relatively prominently in the body of articles alongside the text. This makes them useful for smaller amounts of directly relevant links. Tangential information should be kept out of sidebars. Few articles have more than one sidebar.

Properties
The style of any navigation template depends on its articles, how they are most intuitively presented, and previously established convention.

Navigation templates provide navigation within Wikipedia

 * They are intended to link articles to each other. That is, every article listed on a particular navigation template generally has the template placed on its page.
 * The goal is not to cram as many related articles as possible into one space. Ask yourself, does this help the reader in reading up on related topics? Take any two articles in the template. Would a reader really want to go from A to B?
 * They should be kept small in size as a large template has limited navigation value. For navigating among many articles, consider:
 * Split them into multiple, smaller templates on each sub-topic. For example, EMD diesels lists all models of diesel locomotives built by one manufacturer, but is too large to be transcluded on each of their articles. Instead, the individual sections of EMD diesels were split out into their own templates: EMD GPs, EMD SDs, etc.
 * Do the above with only one template using ParserFunctions.
 * Link only the immediately related articles while hiding the rest, like in the case of Johnny Cash.
 * Avoid repeating links to the same article within a template.
 * They should not be too small. A navigation template with fewer than a handful of links can easily be replaced by "See also" sections, or relevant main article and see also links within the articles' sections. (See essays "Not everything needs a navbox and "A navbox on every page".)
 * Navigation templates do not provide external links to other websites.

Navigation templates provide navigation among existing articles

 * Red links should normally be avoided unless they are very likely to be developed into articles. Red links can be retained in navigation templates that represent a well-defined and complete set of data (geographic divisions, annual events, filmographies, etc.), where deleting red links would leave an incomplete and misleading result. Even then, editors are encouraged to write the article first.
 * Likewise, redirects should also normally be avoided for the reasons outlined in WP:NAVNOREDIRECT. The general exception to this is when the redirect represents a distinct sub-topic of an article rather than simply being an alternative name.
 * Unlinked text should be avoided.
 * Note: In navigation boxes about musical ensembles, it may be appropriate to list all of the members of the ensemble, to avoid the perception that the ensemble is a solo act, provided that at least one member of the ensemble is notable.

Navigation templates provide navigation between related articles

 * If the articles are not established as related by reliable sources in the actual articles, then it is probably not a good idea to interlink them.
 * For complex topics in science, technology, history, etc., a navigation box can provide a comprehensive introduction to a topic. For example, Wind power links to subsidiary and supporting topics that provide background and context necessary for understanding the main Wind power article. While the main Wind power article already contains inline links to the subsidiary articles, the subsidiary articles themselves are smaller and their prose may not place them into the overall context with each other. Editors who work on the subsidiary articles in isolation may be unaware of this context. The navigation template provides an easy way for the subsidiary articles, even when they begin as stubs, to instantly inherit the conceptual structure of the main article.

Navigation templates are not arbitrarily decorative

 * There should be justification for a template to deviate from the colors and styles contained in Module:Navbox/styles.css and Module:Sidebar/styles.css.
 * Per MOS:DECOR, images are rarely appropriate in navboxes. Just like colors and styles, they should have a justification to appear. Specifically, there should be no national or regional flags or coats of arms. A rare example of an appropriate image is this: a map shows (in green) the location of a region within the state of Kazakhstan, and this is consistently implemented for all state's regions.
 * There are two basic layouts:
 * On the right side of page—for example History of China.
 * For meta-template, see sidebar
 * Footer boxes—for example Health in China, designed to appear at the bottom of each article, stacked with other similar templates. See also: Wikipedia:Footers for information on placement
 * For footer boxes, Navbox is the standard.
 * Existing hard-coded collapsible elements should be converted to one of the templates in Category:Collapse templates. This standardizes the look and eases future maintenance.
 * The width of footer boxes should be 100% unless the convention for that type of article is otherwise. It looks inconsistent if multiple boxes in the same article have varying widths.

Advantages
Advantages of using navigation templates rather than listing all the links under "See also" sections include:

 * reduction of clutter in that area of the article before "References" and "External links",
 * compactness of the template compared to a standard list or table, in the case of many links,
 * if the most immediately related links are kept under "See also", the reader has a better idea of scope,
 * less directly related links are out of the way or in some cases hidden by default,
 * ease of maintenance in updating the template as articles get created or deleted,
 * aesthetically pleasing appearance to many users,
 * new articles in a subject area immediately gain the basic link structure of existing related articles, eliminating the need for many editors to individually build up their own links and rewrite background material.
 * when a new article or an older article that was orphaned is placed in a navbox, the page instantly has a large number of links to it

Alternatives
In certain cases, there are alternatives preferable over the creation of a new navigation template.

 * If the group of articles overlaps significantly with an existing category or stand-alone list, consider adding a link to one of these to the see also section.
 * For a series of articles whose only shared characteristic is that they hold the same position or title, such as peerage or world champion sporting titles, consider using succession box. Variant templates for persons who have held several notable offices are discussed at Template talk:Succession box.
 * For relating articles across different categories in a logical sequence, use a succession template.
 * Use one of these Hatnotes: Broader, Further or Main.
 * Create an outline: a hierarchical list.

Template limits
There are limits to the number of templates an article may have. When a page exceeds this limit it may look fine in preview but, after the edit is saved, one or more footer navboxes display as wikilinks to the now excess navboxes (for example, displaying a link to "Template:Navbox" rather than the Navbox template itself). Solutions for this problem include (a) removing a template, and (b) setting up the footer navboxes so the least important one becomes the "extra" navbox (the one the reader will have to navigate to a separate page to in order to view).

title: Wikipedia:Navigation template