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Milestones (book)

Maʿālim fī aṭ Ṭarīq, also Ma'alim fi'l-tareeq, (معالم في الطريق) or Milestones, first published in 1964, is a short book written by the influential Egyptian Islamist author Sayyid Qutb, in which he makes a call to action and lays out a plan to re-create the "extinct" Muslim world on (what he believes to be) strictly Quranic grounds, casting off what he calls Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance).

Ma'alim fi al-Tariq has been called "one of the most influential works in Arabic of the last half century". It is probably Qutb's most famous and influential work and one of the most influential Islamist tracts written. It has also become a manifesto for the ideology of "Qutbism". Commentators have both praised Milestones as a ground-breaking, inspirational work by a hero and a martyr, and reviled it as a prime example of unreasoning entitlement, self-pity, paranoia, and hatred that has been a major influence on Islamist terrorism.

English translations of the book are usually entitled simply "Milestones" (the book is also sometimes referred to in English as "Signposts"). The title Ma'alim fi al-Tariq translates into English as "Milestones Along the Way", "Signposts on the Road", or different combinations thereof.

History
Ma'alim fi al-Tariq marked the culmination of Qutb's evolution from modernist author and critic, to Islamist activist and writer, and finally to Islamist revolutionary and theoretician. First published in 1964, it was written in prison, where Qutb spent 10 years under charges of political conspiracy against the authoritarian Egyptian regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Four of its thirteen chapters were originally written for Qutb's voluminous Quranic commentary, Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the shade of the Qur'an).

Less than a year after its publication, Qutb was again arrested and brought to trial in Egypt under charges of conspiring against the state. Excerpts from the book were used to incriminate Qutb and he was found guilty, sentenced to death and executed by hanging in 1966. His death elevated his status to Shaheed or martyr in the eyes of many Muslims. Milestones became a bestseller and widely distributed across the Arab speaking world. As of 2001, close to 2,000 editions of the work are said to have been published.

Contents
In his book, Qutb seeks to set out "milestones" or guiding markers along a road that will lead to the revival of Islam from its current "extinction."

Sharia
According to Qutb, the Muslim community has been "extinct for a few centuries" and reverted to Jahiliyyah ("The state of ignorance of the guidance from God") because those who call themselves Muslims have failed to follow "the laws of God" or Sharia (also shariah, Shari'a, or Shari'ah), traditional Islamic law. Following the sharia is not just important for Muslims, but a defining attribute, more necessary than belief itself, because "according to the Shari'ah, 'to obey' is 'to worship'." This means Muslims must not only refrain from worshiping anything other than God, they must not obey anything other than God: "anyone who serves someone other than God"—be that someone (or something) a priest, president, a parliament, or a legal statute of a secular state— is "outside God's religion", although he may "claim to profess this religion".

Sharia is much more than a code of religious or public laws (according to Qutb), it is a "complete" way of life covering "all minor or major affairs of mankind", based on "submission to God alone," crowding out anything non-Islamic. Its rules range from "belief" to "administration and justice" to "principles of art and science." Being God's law, sharia is "as accurate and true as any of the laws known as the 'laws of nature,'"  (the laws of physics--motion, gravity -- electricity, etc.), and part of the universal law "which governs the entire universe".

The modern Muslim world has erred by approaching the Qur'an for the sake of "discussion, learning and information" or "to solve some scientific or legal problem." In fact it should be approached as a source of "instruction for obedience and action" to remove man from the servitude of other men and place him in the servitude of God.

When the law of God is established on earth, it will lead to blessings falling on all mankind. Sharia is "the only guarantee" against "any kind of discord" in life, and will "automatically" bring "peace and cooperation" among individuals.

This harmony and perfection that frees men from servitude to other men means that rule of sharia will not be theocracy because its divine perfection means  no human authorities, no government will be necessary to judge or enforce its law. Just as in the days of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions "the fear of God's anger" will take "the place of police and punishments". Offensive jihad to spread sharia-Islam throughout the non-Muslim world will not be aggression but "a movement... to introduce true freedom to mankind."

Knowledge of the "secrets of nature, its hidden forces and the treasures concealed in the expanses of the universe," will be revealed "in an easy manner." The "harmony between human life and the universe" of sharia law will approach the perfection of heaven itself.

Just as sharia is—in Qutb's view—all encompassing and all wonderful, whatever is non-Muslim (or Jahiliyyah) is "evil and corrupt," and its existence anywhere intolerable to true Muslims. In preaching and promoting Islam, for example, it is very important not to demean Islam by "searching for resemblances" between Islam and the "filth" and "the rubbish heap of the West."

According to Qutb, to ignore this fact and attempt to introduce elements of socialism or nationalism into Islam or the Muslim community (as Nasser's Arab Socialist Union government was doing in Egypt at the time), is against Islam. This is illustrated by the fact that in the early days of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad did not make appeals to ethnic or class loyalty. Though these crowd-pleasing appeals would have undoubtedly shortened the thirteen years of hardship Muhammad had to endure while calling unresponsive Arabs to Islam, "God did not lead His Prophet on this course. ... This was not the way," and so must not be the way now.

Islamic vanguard
To restore Islam on earth and free Muslims from "jahili society, jahili concepts, jahili traditions and jahili leadership,"  Qutb preaches that a vanguard (tali'a) be formed modeling itself after the original Muslims, the companions (Sahaba) of Muhammad. Qutb believes these Muslims successfully vanquished Jahiliyyah principally in two ways:

 * They cut themselves off from the Jahiliyyah—i.e. they ignored the learning and culture of non-Muslim groups (Greeks, Romans, Persians, Christians or Jews), and separated themselves from their old non-Muslim friends and family.
 * They looked to the Qur'an for orders to obey, not as "learning and information" or solutions to problems.

Following these principles the vanguard will fight Jahiliyyah with a twofold approach: preaching, and "the movement" (jama'at). Preaching will persuade people to become true Muslims, while the movement will abolish "the organizations and authorities of the Jahili system" by "physical power and Jihaad". Foremost amongst these organizations and people to be removed is the "political power" which rests on a complex, "interrelated ideological, racial, class, social and economic support," but ultimately includes not only "the power of the state, the social system and traditions", but "the whole human environment." Force is necessary, Qutb explains, because it is naive to expect "those who have usurped the authority of God" to give up their power without a fight.

Remaining aloof from Jahiliyyah and its values and culture, but preaching and forcibly abolishing authority within it, the vanguard will travel the road, gradually growing from a cell of "three individuals" to ten, from ten to a hundred, until there are thousands, and blossom into a truly Islamic community. The community may start in the homeland of Islam but this is by no means "the ultimate objective of the Islamic movement of Jihad." Jihad can not merely be defensive, it must be offensive, and its objective must be to carry Islam "throughout the earth to the whole of mankind". This is not aggression, as Orientalists would lead you to believe, but necessary because "truth and falsehood cannot coexist on this Earth".

True Muslims should maintain a "sense of supremacy" and "superiority," on the road of renewal, and to remember their enemies are angered by them, hate them "only because of their faith", "only because they believe in God". And so it is important that they prepare themselves for a "life until death in poverty, difficulty, frustration, torment and sacrifice",  and even to brace themselves for possibility of death by torture at the hands of Jahiliyyah's sadistic, arrogant, mischievous, criminal and degraded people. Qutb ends his book with quotes from "surat Al-Burooj" from the Quran, an example of persecution against Muslims and enjoining modern-day Muslims to endure the same or worse tortures for the sake of carrying out God's will. After all, "this world is not a place of reward"; the believer's reward is in heaven.

Islamic
Two of Qutb's major influences were the medieval Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiya, and contemporary British Indian (later Pakistani) Islamist writer Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. Both used the historical term jahiliyya to describe contemporary events in the Muslim world.

Two other concepts popularized by Qutb in Milestones also came from Maududi:
 * al-'ubudiyya, or worship, (which is performed not only by praying and adoring but by obeying); and
 * al-hakimiyya, or sovereignty, (which is God's over all the earth and violated when His law, the sharia, is not obeyed).

Qutb's premise—that sharia law is essential to Islam, and that any self-described "Muslim" ruler who ignores it in favor of man-made laws is actually a non-Muslim who should be fought and overthrown—came from a fatwa of Ibn Taymiya. (Quran 5:44: "... and those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed are ˹truly˺ the disbelievers.")

Non-Islamic
Qutb's intense dislike of the West and ethnic nationalism notwithstanding, a number of authors believe he was influenced by European fascism (Roxanne L. Euben, Aziz Al-Azmeh, Khaled Abou El Fadl). Some of his ideas (with religion replacing race or ethnicity in its ideology), that have been compared to fascism include: Although fascism made some impact among anti-British Arab Muslims before, during, and after World War II, the influence of fascist thinkers (particularly French fascist Alexis Carrel) in Qutb's work is disputed.
 * the decline of contemporary Western civilization and "infertility" of democracy;
 * inspiration from an earlier golden age and desire to restore its glory with an all-encompassing (totalitarian) social, political, and economic system;
 * belief in malice of foreign and (especially) Jewish conspiracies;
 * violent revolution to expel alien influences and to re-establish the power and international supremacy of the nation/community;

The centrality of an Islamic 'vanguard' (Arabic: tali'a) in Qutb's political program also suggests influence from Communist leader Vladimir I. Lenin's key concept of the vanguard party.

Criticism
Qutb's book was originally a bestseller and became more popular as the Islamic revival strengthened. Islamists have hailed him as "a matchless writer, ... one of the greatest thinkers of contemporary Islamic thought," and compared to Western political philosopher John Locke. Egyptian intellectual Tariq al-Bishri has compared the influence of Milestones to Vladimir Lenin's pamphlet What Is To Be Done?, where the founder of modern Communism outlined his theories of how Communism would be different from socialism. Author Gilles Kepel credits Milestones with "unmasking" the socialist and "nominally" Islamic "faces" of the Egyptian regime of Gamal Abdel Nasser Qutb lived under.

Outside the Islamist context, however, Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq has been criticized by Muslims for the takfir of allegedly jahili Muslims, and by non-Muslims for its accusations against them.

Takfir
The claim that the entire world was jahiliyya meant that mainstream Muslims were not actually Muslims, which meant they were potentially guilty of apostasy, a capital crime in traditional sharia. Critics allege that Qutb's Milestones helped to open up a Pandora's box of takfir (by declaring that the Muslim world was actually non-Muslim and so many Muslims not actually Muslims, and potentially guilty of apostasy) that has brought serious internal strife, in particular terrorism and the killing of civilians, to the Muslim world in recent decades.

Christians and Jews as Polytheists
Qutb repeatedly proclaims that "serving human lords" is intolerable and is a practice Islam "has come to annihilate." Christians and Jews are guilty of it since they give priests and rabbis "the authority to make laws" and "it is clear that obedience to laws and judgments is a sort of worship." Because of this these religions are actually polytheist, not monotheist. Qutb quotes the Quran (9:31):

“They have taken their rabbis and priests as lords other than Allah, and the Messiah, son of Mary; and they were commanded to worship none but One Allah. There is no God but He, glory be to Him above what they associate with Him!”

Western and Jewish Conspiracies
Qutb asserted that "World Jewry" was and is engaged in conspiracies whose "purpose" is: "to eliminate all limitations, especially the limitations imposed by faith and religion, so that Jews may penetrate into body politics of the whole world and then may be free to perpetuate their evil designs. At the top of the list of these activities is usury, the aim of which is that all the wealth of mankind end up in the hands of Jewish financial institutions which run on interest." He also alleged that the West had a centuries-long "enmity toward Islam" which led it to create a "well-thought-out scheme ... to demolish the structure of Muslim society." At the same time, "the Western world realizes that Western civilization is unable to present any healthy values for the guidance of mankind," and in one Western country he had visited, "the American people blush" with shame when confronted with the "immoralities" and "vulgarity" of their own country in comparison with the superiority of Islam's "logic, beauty, humanity and happiness".

Olivier Roy has described Qutb's attitude as one of "radical contempt and hatred" for the West, and complains that the propensity of Muslims like Qutb to blame problems on outside conspiracies "is currently paralyzing Muslim political thought. For to say that every failure is the devil's work is the same as asking God, or the devil himself (which is to say these days the Americans), to solve one's problems."

Milestones and Islam
Other questions involve Qutb's ideas of sharia and freedom.

Sharia
Although Qutb's ideology is premised upon sharia law and its application to every aspect of life, he does not explain or illustrate how any specific statutes are better or different from man-made law. Evidence to support assertions in Ma'alim fi al-Tariq is limited to scriptural quotations — but does assure readers sharia is "without doubt ... perfect in the highest degree", and will free humanity from servitude to other men.

Some, such as scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl, have questioned Qutb's understanding of sharia, and his assumptions that sharia is not only perfect but accessible to mortals in its completeness. While Islamic scholars of sharia traditionally have two decade-long training from schools such as Al Azhar, all Qutb's formal post-secondary schooling was secular.

Qutb's assertion that the Qur'an should be approached as a source of "instruction for obedience and action" (following the fundamentalist prescription that "the Quran is our law,"  ) comes under modernist criticism that of 6000 verses in the Quran only 245 concern legislation, and only 90 of those concern constitutional, civil, financial or economic matters. Qutb's general assertion that the sharia is all-encompassing — a "complete way of life" with rules on everything from "administration and justice" to "principles of art and science" — is challenged by the Modernist claim that sharia law (as revealed to man) is notably short on solutions to modern problems, be they traffic control, price stability, or health care.

Freedom
Qutb explains that sharia law needs no human authorities for citizens to obey and thus frees humanity from "servitude" because
 * God's law has "no vagueness or looseness" which would necessitate judges to settle disputes over interpretation, and
 * no need for enforcement authorities because "as soon as a command is given, the heads are bowed, and nothing more is required for implementation (of sharia) except to hear it."

This uniquely free socioeconomic system not only frees Muslims to be true Muslims, but explains why offensive jihad to "establish the sovereignty of God", i.e. true Islam, "throughout the world"  would not constitute aggression towards non-Muslims but rather "a movement to wipe out tyranny" and to introduce "true freedom" to mankind,  since even the most contented and patriotic non-Muslim living in a non-Muslim state is still obeying a human authority. These non-Muslims must be freed by Islamic jihad, just as the non-Muslims of Persia or Byzantium were freed by invading Muslim armies in the 7th Century AD.

The problem alleged here is that while true Muslims who believe in sharia law might in theory obey it without any state or police to enforce it, non-Muslims would have no such incentive, since by definition they do not consider Islamic law to be divine. However, if obedience were not voluntary, offensive jihad would lose the rationale Qutb claims for it as a movement to wipe out tyranny.

Qutb's political philosophy has been described as an attempt to instantiate a complex and multilayer eschatological vision, partly grounded in a counter-hegemonic anti-western view of Islamic 'universalism'.

In popular culture
The book is referenced in the 2022 political thriller film "Boy from Heaven aka Cairo Conspiracy". The book's appearance in the film underscores its influence and relevance in contemporary discussions around Islam and politics.

title: Milestones (book)


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Mercy Ships

Mercy Ships is an international charity based on Christian values that operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world, providing hope and healing in Africa through surgical care and surgical education, community development projects, community health education, mental health programs, agriculture projects, and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Its headquarters are in Garden Valley, Texas.

Mercy Ships has visited more than 55 developing nations and 18 developed nations around the world, with a focus on the countries of Africa for the past 30 years. The organization currently operates a two-ship fleet consisting of the Global Mercy and the Africa Mercy. In 2024, Mercy Ships announced its plans to expand its fleet with a new, purpose-built vessel, to be built in collaboration with partners MSC Group and MSC Foundation. The new ship will have a hospital over two decks with six operating rooms, a laboratory, and training facilities. The ship will accommodate around 600 crew, patients and guests on board.

History
Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens in Lausanne in Switzerland. A major inspiration for Mercy Ships founder Don Stephens was the work of the international hospital ship SS Hope. Stephens' research showed that 95 of the 100 largest cities in the world were port cities. Therefore, a hospital ship could deliver healthcare very efficiently to large numbers of people. The birth of Stephens' disabled son, John Paul, also inspired him to move forward with his vision of a floating hospital. A visit with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, further deepened his commitment to serving people in need.

The first ocean liner acquired was the Victoria, which was purchased for its scrap value of US $1 million. The nine-deck vessel was transformed into the hospital ship MV Anastasis over a four-year period. The 522-foot ship was equipped with three operating rooms, a dental clinic, an x-ray machine, a laboratory and 40 patient beds. The ship's 350-member crew included Mercy Ships founders Don and Deyon Stephens, who lived on board the ship with their four young children for ten years.

In 1983, the Anastasis (the Greek word for "resurrection") began operations in the South Pacific, then moved to Central America and the Caribbean Sea in the mid-80s. The ship moved on to Africa in 1991 and remained in service there until 2007. The final port of call for the Anastasis was Monrovia, Liberia.

Originally, Mercy Ships was a part of the YWAM (Youth with a Mission) family of Christian ministries, before becoming a standalone organization in 2003. The organization historically uses retired ocean liners and ferries that have been transformed into floating hospitals. In 2021, however, its first purpose-built hospital ship, the Global Mercy, joined the fleet.

Mercy Ships purchased the Norwegian coastal ferry MS Polarlys in 1994 and transformed it into the MV Caribbean Mercy, a hospital ship serving Central American and Caribbean ports. The ship offered berths for 150 crew and was equipped initially for field medical clinics. Over the course of several years, the ship was equipped with modern eye-surgery capabilities. The first eye surgery was performed on board the Caribbean Mercy in early 1997, while the ship was docked in Guatemala. On land, volunteers from the Caribbean Mercy also provided dental, orthopedic and healthcare services. The Caribbean Mercy visited 138 ports of call and remained in service until May 2005.

In 1983, the Canadian ferry formerly MV Petite Forte of CN Marine was donated to Mercy Ships to provide relief operations in the Caribbean. Initially christened the MV Good Samaritan, the ship was re-christened the MV Island Mercy in 1994. The 60-berth vessel remained in service until spring of 2001 before being sold as training ship Far East I. The countries it served included Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guyana and Haiti. The ship also reached beyond the Caribbean with relief and medical operations in Guinea-Bissau, Western Samoa, the Tokelau Islands and New Zealand.

Since 2000, Mercy Ships has the 16,500-ton vessel Africa Mercy, which measures almost 500 feet long. The Africa Mercy has greater capacity than all three previous Mercy Ships combined. In May 2007, the Africa Mercy sailed into the port in Monrovia to meet up with the Anastasis, enabling crew, equipment, and supplies to be transferred from the oldest Mercy Ship to the new one.

In 2007, the Africa Mercy made her official maiden voyage to Monrovia, Liberia, from the shipyard in England. In 2008, the Africa Mercy continued her service to Liberia, offering free surgeries, assistance in healthcare infrastructure development, and community-based preventive health care programs that benefited thousands of individuals and many communities. More than 1,200 surgical procedures and 10,000 dental procedures were completed, along with community health projects such as HIV/AIDS prevention and construction of wells and latrines.

Early in 2010, the ship was docked in Lomé, Togo, for the 2010 field service. In August 2010, the Africa Mercy went into shipyard in South Africa, where it was equipped with new, more efficient generators. In 2009, the ship was docked in Cotonou, Benin, from February to December, providing free surgeries and medical care. Mercy Ships also worked with Beninese citizens on agriculture and water development projects on the ground in Benin. Before the Africa Mercy arrives in port, flyers are distributed to alert the public to the ship's upcoming visit. An advance team begins a massive screening of thousands of prospective patients, to see who qualified for a surgery. It is common for people to walk for days (and even from neighboring countries) to find out whether they may be eligible for surgical treatment.

After spending 10 months in Conakry, Guinea, from August 2018 until June 2019, the Africa Mercy traveled to the Canary Islands for her annual maintenance period. Prior to that, the volunteer crew completed a field service in Douala, Cameroon, which lasted from August 2017 through June 2018. Prior to that, the Africa Mercy served in the port of Cotonou, Benin, August 2016 to the summer of 2017. The summer of 2016 was spent completing dry dock and annual maintenance in Durban, South Africa. The ship was previously docked in Toamasina, Madagascar, from October 2014 through June 2016, for two field services. Before that, the ship served in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo from August 2013 till May 2014. Before The Republic of Congo the vessel was docked in Conakry, Guinea, and Lomé, Togo. The Africa Mercy docked in Freetown, Sierra Leone, for her 2011 field service, which lasted for ten months. At the conclusion of each field service, the Africa Mercy goes into dry dock, where it is resupplied and receives any needed repairs or upgrades before heading to her next port of call.

In 2019, the Africa Mercy docked in Dakar, Senegal, for a six-month field service. On February 1, 2022, the Africa Mercy returned to Dakar, Senegal with the goal to provide surgery to approximately 950 patients whose surgeries were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2024, following a period of extensive refit and maintenance in South Africa, the Africa Mercy arrived into the port of Toamasina, Madagascar, to begin her next field service.

The new ship, the MV Global Mercy, in partnership with Stena RoRo, finished construction and joined the fleet in June 2021. The Global Mercy is the organization's first purpose-built hospital ship and is the largest civilian hospital ship in the world. In February 2023, the Global Mercy arrived in the Port of Dakar, Senegal, to begin her first surgical field service, where she provided nearly 800 surgeries over the next five months. In August 2023, the Global Mercy sailed to her next port of call, Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she is currently providing safe surgical care and surgical education on board.

Mission
Mercy Ships is a predominantly Christian interdenominational missionary organization, describing their mission as "bringing hope and healing to the forgotten poor, following the 2,000-year-old model of Jesus". The organization treats all patients free of charge, and without regard to their religion, race, or gender.

Mercy Ships vessels have visited 601 ports in 55 developing nations. Its volunteers have provided services and materials valued at over $1.85 billion. Mercy Ships has delivered services to more than 2.87 million direct beneficiaries and Mercy Ships volunteers have performed more than 117,000 free surgical procedures, such as cleft lip and palate, cataract removal, burn contracture release, and orthopedic and facial reconstruction. They have:
 * Performed 541,000 dental procedures for over 201,400 dental patients.
 * Trained more than 6,940 local professionals (including surgeons), who have in turn trained many others.
 * Trained over 54,300 local professionals in their area of expertise (anesthesiology, nursing, sterilization, biomedical engineering, surgery, trauma, leadership).
 * Taught over 271,700 local people in basic healthcare.
 * Completed over 1,115 infrastructure development and agriculture projects.

Mercy Ships is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity. Mercy Ships has built a broad base of financial support, beginning with donations from the public and from crew members. Medical companies donate pharmaceuticals, equipment, and supplies to Mercy Ships. Corporations also make in-kind donations of materials such as fuel, food and building supplies. In addition, governments that work with Mercy Ships typically waive or cover port fees and associated costs for the ship to dock.

Togo
In 1991, the government of Togo became the first African nation to invite the Mercy Ship Anastasis to dock and provide free surgical care. The 2012 Field Service in Lomé, Togo, marked the fifth visit of Mercy Ships to the West African country. During the five-month stay in port, the ship's volunteer medical crew provided free surgeries, free dental procedures and trained local healthcare representatives. Mercy Ships also renovated portions of the Be-Kpota Anfamé Clinic in Lomé to serve as its 40-bed HOPE (Hospital Out-Patient Extension) Center for post-surgical recovery, which was returned to use as a Ministry of Health Clinic when the Africa Mercy departed.

Sierra Leone
Mercy Ships vessels have visited Sierra Leone six times, beginning in 1992. Mercy Ships has tailored its work in Sierra Leone to support the country's National Health Sector Strategic Plan, which aims to strengthen the national health system.

In December 2011, Mercy Ships signed on as a full partner to a Health Agreement with Sierra Leone, focusing on improving the country's principal hospitals. The agreement calls for Mercy Ships to focus on upgrading medical and surgical services, patient recordkeeping and the physical conditions of hospital buildings and infrastructure.

The organization's partner in Sierra Leone is the Aberdeen Women's Centre, formerly the Aberdeen West Africa Fistula Center. The Aberdeen Women's Centre is one of the few locations on the African continent offering obstetric fistula repair for women who have been injured during childbirth. Started by Mercy Ships with the Ministry of Health, Addax Foundation and other partners, the Fistula Centre is now operated by the Gloag Foundation (UK).

In August 2023, the Global Mercy arrived in the Port of Freetown to begin a sixth field service, with the aim of performing more than 2,000 safe, free surgeries to patients who otherwise lack access to the care they need. During this 10-month field service, Mercy Ships also aims to provide surgical education through training and mentoring to approximately 200 Sierra Leonean healthcare professionals.

Republic of Congo
The Mercy Ships 2013 field service in Pointe Noire marked the first visit by a Mercy Ship to the Republic of Congo. Mercy Ships partnered with the country's Ministry of Health, and programs addressed requests by the authorities in Congo-Brazzaville to support continuing education opportunities for practicing professionals. Those included mentoring and training in nursing, anesthesiology, infection control, cataract removal surgery, basic surgical skills, trauma care, newborn resuscitation, palliative care, midwifery, and community health education. Mercy Ships partnered with local hospital infrastructures to help improve quality of care, teamwork and communication.

Madagascar
The 2015–2016 field service was the third Mercy Ships visit to Madagascar, located off the southeastern coast of Africa. Madagascar is the world's fourth-largest island nation. A political crisis in recent years has hampered the nation's ability to meet a number of millennium development goals and has taken a heavy toll on Madagascar's economy and people. According to the office of the President of Madagascar, there was a clear and important need for the expertise Mercy Ships brought to the nation, both in terms of specialized surgical and medical care as well as healthcare training and capacity building. In February 2024, Mercy Ships returned to Madagascar with the Africa Mercy to begin its next field service.

Benin
The 2016–2017 field service of the Africa Mercy took place in Cotonou, Benin, where the hospital ship docked from August 2016 through to June 2017. During the ship's 10-month stay in the port of Cotonou, Mercy Ships provided over 1,793 free surgeries for adult and child patients on board. The volunteer crew treated 6,942 people at a land-based dental clinic, mentored 88 Beninese healthcare professionals, and trained 1,874 participants in medical capacity building courses such as Essential Surgical Skills, Primary Trauma, Safe Anesthesia, and more.

Cameroon
The 2017–2018 field service of the Africa Mercy was completed in June 2018. During this port stay, Mercy Ships provided more than 2,508 surgeries for adult and child patients on board, treated more than 9,000 at a land-based dental clinic, and provided capacity building medical training courses to 1,475 Cameroonian healthcare professionals. These courses included SAFE Obstetric Anesthesia, SAFE Pediatric Anesthesia, Essential Surgical Skills, Primary Trauma Care and others. Additionally, 89 Cameroonian medical professionals were mentored including surgeons, nurses, anesthesia providers and healthcare workers.

Guinea
The Mercy Ships 2012 field service in Conakry marked the third visit by a Mercy Ship to Guinea, which was also visited by the earlier Mercy Ship Anastasis (now retired). Mercy Ships partnered with the country's Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene and other organizations to improve the country's health care delivery system. A special outreach was made to ensure that many patients from remote areas of the country were able to be screened for treatable conditions.

In August 2018 Mercy Ships arrived in Conakry for the fourth time and stayed there for a ten-month mission. During its stay in Guinea, Mercy Ships provided 2,230 patients with 2,442 specialized surgeries. The off-ship dental clinic treated 7,937 patients who received over 41,000 dental procedures. The medical capacity building program trained 1099 participants in courses including primary trauma care, essential surgical skills and more, while 155 anesthesia providers, nurses, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals participated in a mentoring program.

Mercy Ships continues to partner with a leading university in Conakry, Guinea, to provide dental education as well as nurse anesthesia and biomedical engineering education.

Senegal
From August 2019 to March 2020, the Africa Mercy was docked for its first field service in Dakar, Senegal. On February 1, 2022, the Africa Mercy returned to Dakar, Senegal, to resume operations for approximately 950 patients whose surgeries were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, Mercy Ships continued to collaborate closely with the government and Ministry of Health in Senegal, offering support in the form of PPE donations and ongoing medical training for local healthcare professionals. In 2023, Mercy Ships began another field service in Senegal - this time with its newest, purpose-built vessel, the Global Mercy. The organization provided nearly 800 surgeries and trained more than 600 local healthcare professionals between February and July 2023.

Medical capabilities
Medical personnel on board the organization's hospital ships provide surgeries and healthcare to treat a wide range of problems, including cleft lip and palate, cataract, bowed legs (genu varum), burns and burn scars, dental problems and obstetric fistula repair for injuries sustained during childbirth. Many of these ailments are extremely severe because patients have had little prior access to medical care. In addition, people with disfiguring medical conditions have often been shunned by their communities, so medical treatment from Mercy Ships can also help relieve the stigma and isolation that they have experienced.

The lower deck of the Africa Mercy is equipped with five operating theaters, 82-bed recovery wards, a CT scanner, an X-ray machine and a laboratory.

On the upper decks of the Africa Mercy, the ship has 126 cabins that provide accommodations for more than 400 crew, including families, couples, and individuals. The ship is equipped with a day care center, an accredited academy for all grades through senior year of high school, a library, a launderette, a shop for groceries and sundries, a restaurant, a gymnasium, and a donated Starbucks cafe. A fleet of 28 vehicles travels with the ship, for use in Mercy Ship's land-based operations.

Meanwhile, the Global Mercy is 174 meters long, 28.6 meters wide and has space for 200 patients, six operating rooms, a laboratory, general outpatient clinics, dental, and eye clinics and training facilities.

The hospital decks cover a total area of 7,000 square meters and contain the latest training facilities. The ship can accommodate up to 950 people when docked, including crew members and volunteers from all over the world.

Providing education, training, and advocacy
In addition to providing free surgical, medical, and dental care, Mercy Ships is committed to investing in local surgical infrastructure in ways that will continue to have a positive impact long after the ship leaves port. By developing medical facilities on land and training local personnel, Mercy Ships ensures that increased surgical care can be provided after the Global Mercy and Africa Mercy depart from their host countries.

The process of expanding surgical capacity includes renovating healthcare facilities in developing nations, as well as improving access to safe, affordable surgery. Development teams work with local leaders, governments, and the national ministries of health to assess surgical infrastructure needs and design projects that support the surgical ecosystem in a partner hospital. Throughout its decades of operation, Mercy Ships has supported various medical projects such as the construction or renovation of hospital surgical wards, clinic facilities and equipment for service, new maternity units, and operating theatres.

The renovation of healthcare facilities is paired with medical professional mentoring and training courses, both on ship and in-country, designed to improve the quality of services across an entire hospital setting.

Volunteer crew
With a two-ship fleet active across Africa, Mercy Ships will have volunteers supporting projects in locations around the world each year. During a typical year, this will include more than 3,000 volunteers from 60 nations serving on board the fleet. About 200 African nationals also serve as day crew on the ship in any given port. The addition of the Global Mercy is intended to double the organization's impact and will more than double its volunteer base. As the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world, the Global Mercy has the capacity to accommodate 641 people on board, including crew and medical staff.

Mercy Ships offers short-term (from a few weeks up to a year) and long-term (more than one year) volunteer opportunities. Mercy Ships needs volunteers for both medical and non-medical jobs. Due to the nature of the ship, positions for surgeons, dentists, and nurses are often readily available, but jobs such as deckhands, carpenters, seamen, teachers, cooks, engineers, machinists, welders, plumbers, videographers, photographers, writers, electricians and agriculturalists are also available. Volunteer crew often serve as blood donors, since there is a high demand for donated blood due to limited space to maintain a blood bank on board.

Volunteers with Mercy Ships are responsible for paying all costs associated with their service, including crew fees, travel expenses, passports, immunizations, insurance, and personal expenses. Because of this commitment, Mercy Ships is able to use direct contributions from its supporters to bring care to those who need it most.

title: Mercy Ships


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jonas Day

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete + redirects. humblefool®Deletion Reform 03:01, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

Jonas Day
See also "jonas day" and Jonas Day" which are redirects to this page The article does not meet the criteria at WP:MUSIC for notability. Naturenet | Talk 16:42, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete  - NN  JoJan 18:55, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete google nn, band vanity -Harmil 19:09, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per above. Dcarrano 23:27, July 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete nn band vanity. --Etacar11 00:40, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Maybe redirect to Jones Day. Pburka 01:00, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete non notable band vanity. Fails WP:MUSIC guidelines. JamesBurns 07:58, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


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File:John black.jpg

John C. Black. Medal of Honor Recipient (Civil War). Congressman (Illinois).

title: File:John black.jpg


text: Template:Memphis Grizzlies roster

title: Template:Memphis Grizzlies roster


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Same-sex marriage in Oregon

Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Oregon since May 19, 2014, when Judge Michael J. McShane of the U.S. District Court for the District Court of Oregon ruled in Geiger v. Kitzhaber that Oregon's 2004 state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. A campaign that was then under way to win voter approval of a constitutional amendment legalizing same-sex marriage was suspended following the decision. In July 2015, Governor Kate Brown signed legislation codifying same-sex marriage in various Oregon statutes. The law change went into effect on January 1, 2016.

Oregon began recognizing same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions in October 2013. Domestic partnerships, providing a subset of the rights and benefits of marriage, have been recognized since 2008.

In March and April 2004, Multnomah County issued marriage licenses to more than 3,000 same-sex couples until ordered by a state judge to stop doing so. In November, Oregon voters approved an amendment to the State Constitution that made it state policy to recognize only marriages "between one man and one woman". The validity of the licenses issued the previous spring was disputed, and the Oregon Supreme Court ruled in April 2005 that the newly adopted constitutional amendment had invalidated them.

Marriage licenses issued
On March 3, 2004, Multnomah County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after its attorney issued a legal opinion that such marriages are lawful. On that day, Multnomah County issued 422 marriage licenses, compared to the 68 it issues on an average day. Local businesses reported an increase in the sales of flowers and other marriage-related services directly related to the beginning of same-sex marriages. According to the 2000 U.S. census, 3,242 same-sex couples were living in the county. Neighboring Washington and Clackamas counties announced that they were studying Multnomah County's legal opinion, but did not plan to immediately follow suit.

At a hearing on March 9, 2004, after the county had issued approximately 1,700 marriage licenses to same-sex couples, County Circuit Judge Dale Koch refused to issue an injunction to stop the county from continuing the process. A later study by The Oregonian showed that out the approximately 1,700 same-sex couples married in the first week, 2,026 spouses were from Multnomah County, while about 900 others came from other locations in Oregon, about 490 from the state of Washington, and 30 from other states. On March 10, 2004, the Oregon Legislative Counsel, Greg Chaimov, issued an opinion that "state law requires a county clerk to license the marriage of a same-sex couple." The office of Attorney General Hardy Myers issued an opinion on March 12, 2004, after reviewing it with Governor Ted Kulongoski, that concluded that Oregon law prohibits county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples; that the Oregon Supreme Court would likely find denying such licenses violates Article I, Section 20 of the Oregon Constitution; but that current state practices should not change in anticipation of such a ruling. It also said that the Attorney General's office lacked the authority to order Multnomah County to cease issuing licenses for same-sex marriages.

On March 15, 2004, Multnomah County commissioners announced that they would continue to issue licenses to same-sex couples. On March 16, following public hearings, Benton County commissioners voted 2–1 to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on March 24, but reversed their decision on March 22 after receiving two letters from the Attorney General and a phone call threatening the arrest of the county clerk, and decided to issue no marriage license at all pending a decision by the Multnomah County Court.

With the consent of the state, three same-sex couples sued the state of Oregon in Multnomah County Court, including Mary Li and Rebecca Kennedy, the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license from Multnomah County. At a hearing before Judge Frank Bearden on April 16, 2004, in Li and Kennedy v. State of Oregon, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Basic Rights Oregon represented the plaintiffs and the Oregon Department of Justice and the Defense of Marriage Coalition defended the state's position. On April 20, 2004, Bearden ordered the county to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and ordered the state to recognize the 3,022 marriage licenses already issued. The Oregon state registrar had been holding the completed licenses pending a court decision as to their validity, rather than entering them into the state's records system. Bearden also found that the Oregon Constitution would likely allow some form of marriage rights to same-sex couples, and directed the Legislative Assembly to act on the issue within 90 days of the start of its next session. He ruled that if the Assembly failed to address the issue within that time, he would allow Multnomah County to resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It was understood that both parties would appeal the decision. In July 2004, the Court of Appeals lifted the temporary ban blocking the registration of the marriage licenses issued by Multnomah County. The state announced that processing would take a week and began doing so within hours of the court's action.

2004 ballot initiative
On May 21, 2004, the Defense of Marriage Coalition received approval for the language of a proposed initiative to prohibit same-sex marriage. They began circulating petitions to obtain the 100,840 valid signatures needed by July 2 to place the initiative on the November ballot. On November 2, 2004, voters approved Ballot Measure 36, a constitutional amendment defining the marriage of "a man and a woman" as the only one recognized by the state, by a margin of 57% to 43%. The Defense of Marriage Coalition said that opponents of Measure 36 outspent their group more than 2 to 1. The now-defunct amendment read: "It is the policy of Oregon, and its political subdivisions, that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or legally recognized as a marriage."

Oregon Supreme Court review
On December 15, 2004, the Oregon Supreme Court heard arguments in the appeal of Li and Kennedy v. State of Oregon. Oregon argued that Multnomah County lacked the authority to issue same-sex marriage licenses and that Ballot Measure 36 was retroactive, making the issue of those licenses moot. The Defense of Marriage Coalition argued that Measure 36 was not retroactive, there had been no constitutional violation of the rights of same-sex couples, and Multnomah County did not have the authority to issue same-sex marriage licenses even to remedy a constitutional violation. The ACLU argued that Measure 36 was not retroactive, that the rights of same-sex couples under the Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Oregon Constitution had been violated, and that counties are required to remedy perceived constitutional violations.

On April 14, 2005, the Oregon Supreme Court decided Li and Kennedy v. State of Oregon, ruling that Multnomah County lacked the authority to remedy a perceived violation of the Oregon Constitution and that all marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples were void when issued. The court noted that the Oregon Constitution had since been amended to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples and it therefore declined to rule as to whether or not same-sex couples had any rights under the Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Oregon Constitution.

2005–2008
Following the passage of the constitutional amendment and the Supreme Court's decision in Li and Kennedy, state officials began efforts to establish domestic partnerships granting virtually all of the rights and benefits of marriage. A bill was first passed in the Oregon State Senate in July 2005, but failed to pass the House of Representatives. Following the 2006 elections, similar legislation was re-introduced and passed both chambers of the Assembly. Governor Ted Kulongoski signed it into law on May 9, 2007. Since February 4, 2008, same-sex couples have had access to domestic partnerships, which guarantee almost all of the rights of marriage.

Recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages
On October 16, 2013, based on an opinion from the Oregon Department of Justice, the state's Chief Operating Officer, Michael Jordan, announced that Oregon would begin recognizing same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions "for the purposes of administering state programs."

Oregon Same-Sex Marriage Amendment
In February 2013, Basic Rights Oregon formed the group Oregon United for Marriage to put an initiative legalizing same-sex marriage on the November 2014 ballot. The initiative would have replaced the state's constitutional amendment restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples with provisions guaranteeing the right of all persons to marry without respect to gender. On July 26, 2013, the petition campaign to get the required signatures was launched. By early December 2013, the 116,284 minimum required signatures had been reached, but signature collection continued. The campaign was endorsed by the Democratic Party of Oregon, and various major businesses.

The campaign gathered more than 160,000 signatures, enough to place its proposal, the Oregon Same-Sex Marriage Amendment, on the November 4, 2014 statewide ballot. Following the May 2014 U.S district court decision in Geiger v. Kitzhaber, striking down Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage, the group announced that it was "confident that the freedom to marry is secure in Oregon" and that it would not proceed with the measure.

Federal lawsuit
On October 15, 2013, two couples, an unmarried lesbian couple and two men already married in Canada, filed a lawsuit, Geiger v. Kitzhaber, in U.S. district court in Eugene, challenging the Oregon Constitution's ban on same-sex marriage. This made Oregon the 20th U.S. state to have a federal lawsuit challenging its ban on same-sex marriage filed since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor in June 2013 invalidated part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Two more couples and the Basic Rights Education Fund filed another same-sex marriage case on December 19, 2013, with this latter case captioned Rummell and West v. Kitzhaber.

On January 22, 2014, Judge Michael J. McShane consolidated the two lawsuits and scheduled oral arguments for April 23. On February 20, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum told the court that she believed "that performing same-sex marriages in Oregon would have no adverse effect on existing marriages, and that sexual orientation does not determine an individual's capacity to establish a loving and enduring relationship." She found it impossible to defend the state's ban "under any standard of review" and her office would no longer defend the ban in court. The plaintiffs in both Geiger and Rummell filed motions asking for summary judgment; this procedure used in cases where there are no material issues of fact requiring a trial, and a fast resolution is desired. The court heard oral arguments on motions for summary judgment in the consolidated lawsuit on April 23, 2014. While all parties present supported same-sex couples' right to marry, Judge McShane questioned whether Oregon voters should get another say on the issue, since they approved the amendment defining marriage; and whether to stay the ruling and await guidance from same-sex marriage cases pending in the U.S. courts of appeal, or to implement the ruling immediately. The court scheduled another oral argument session for May 14, where the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an organization that opposes same-sex marriage, tried to qualify for intervention in the case. On May 14, Judge McShane rejected NOM's attempt to intervene in the case, ruling that the group was unreasonably late in filing its request to intervene and that it failed to convincingly demonstrate that it should be allowed to intervene on behalf of three anonymous Oregon-based members of NOM.

Ruling
At noon on May 19, 2014, Judge McShane issued his opinion, ruling that the state's ban was unconstitutional. He wrote: "Because Oregon's marriage laws discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation without a rational relationship to any legitimate government interest, the laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Minutes after the decision was announced at noon, officials in at least four counties were fulfilling requests for marriage licenses from same-sex couples. The first to wed in Multnomah County were two of the plaintiffs, Deanna Geiger and Janine Nelson. That county issued 96 licenses the first day, and judges officiated at wedding ceremonies in a Portland ballroom. Governor John Kitzhaber, the named defendant, said "I strongly support Judge McShane's decision to overturn institutional discrimination in Oregon's constitution. No longer will Oregonians tolerate discrimination against the gay, lesbian, and transgender community. [...] Now, finally, all Oregonians will have the opportunity to make a legal commitment to the person they love. Every person and every family in Oregon deserves that chance. Today is a win for love, for families, and for freedom." Senator Jeff Merkley called it "a historic day for Oregon", and Senator Ron Wyden said, "Judge Michael McShane's decision marks a significant moment in Oregon's civil rights history, and it's an important step toward equal rights for all Americans. Every American deserves the freedom to marry the person they love, and, starting today, all Oregonians will have that choice. I am proud to have stood with Oregon's same-sex couples in this struggle for marriage equality for nearly 20 years, and it's important to keep pushing until that right extends to all Americans." The Republican House Minority Leader, Mike McLane, issued a statement, "For those that believe marriage is a religious covenant, the origin of which predates America, today's federal court ruling won't change that. For those that believe marriage is a legal union between two people that is recognized and enforced by our state government, today's ruling is a logical extension of the Supreme Court's ruling last summer. Our society must embrace both views. My hope is that the process of reconciliation in Oregon will continue as we move forward with respect for each other." Val Hoyle, the Majority Leader of the House, said "I married the person who I love over 22 years ago, and I'm thrilled that all Oregonians now have the freedom to do the same."

NOM immediately asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an emergency stay of McShane's ruling, which that court denied on grounds of lack of standing. NOM then filed a request on May 27 with Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy seeking to block Judge McShane's order. Justice Kennedy referred the matter to the entire Supreme Court, which on June 4 rejected NOM's request.

2015–2016
In July 2015, several amendments to marriage and spousal laws were passed by the Legislative Assembly and signed into law by Governor Kate Brown. The reforms made all mentions to marriage in statutory law gender-neutral, and came into effect on January 1, 2016.

In February 2016, the Assembly passed legislation defining marriage as "a union between two people" irrespective of gender. It passed the House in a 43–13 vote and the Senate in an 18–11 vote. On March 14, 2016, Governor Brown signed the bill into law, and it took effect immediately. The statutory definition of marriage is now: "Marriage is a civil contract entered into in person by males at least 17 years of age and females at least 17 years of age, who are otherwise capable, and solemnized in accordance with ORS 106.150." Oregon's statutes were also amended to read the following: "Any privilege, immunity, right or benefit granted by statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other law to an individual because the individual is or was married to an individual of a different sex, is granted on equivalent terms, substantive and procedural, to an individual who is or was married to an individual of the same sex. [ORS 106.345 (3)]"

2023–present
In April 2023, Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber introduced Senate Joint Resolution 33, a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to same-sex marriage, along with abortion and gender-affirming care. On April 27, 2023, the Committee on Rules adopted, by a vote of 3 ayes and 2 nays, SJR 33. On May 2, 2023, Senators Tim Knopp and Bill Hansell recommended that SJR 33 be adopted with an amendment repealing almost everything and replacing it with a repeal of the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. On June 15, 2023, Republicans announced, as part of a deal reached with Democrats to end their 6 week walkout, that Democrats had agreed to kill SJR 33. Republicans said they offered support for the provisions on same-sex marriage. That same day, the Senate adopted, by a vote of 22 ayes, 7 absent and 1 excused, a motion to rerefer SJR 33 to the Committee on Rules, thus dying in committee with the adjourned sine die of the 2023 Regular Session on June 25, 2023.

Native American nations
Same-sex marriage is legal on the reservations of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, the Coquille Indian Tribe, and the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe. The Coquille Indian Tribe was the first tribe in Oregon, and the United States, to legalize same-sex marriage, when its Tribal Council voted 5–2 in 2008 to allow same-sex couples to marry on tribal land. The law went into effect on May 20, 2009. At least one of the parties to the marriage must be a member of the tribe. Kitzen and Jeni Branting were the first same-sex couple to marry on Coquille sovereign land in Coos Bay on May 24. Kitzen Branting said, "My tribe recognizes the marriage, so that is really important to me. Anytime we come to a tribal function, I know my marriage is just as valid as anyone else's marriage." At the time, Oregon did not recognize same-sex marriage, but the tribe, as a federally recognized sovereign nation, was not bound by the Oregon Constitution. The Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians voted 6–0 to legalize same-sex marriage on August 10, 2014, and the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians approved a marriage ordinance permitting same-sex couples to marry on May 15, 2015. The Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community passed a same-sex marriage law on October 28, 2015, and it went into effect on November 18, 2015. The Law and Order Code of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe states that marriage is governed by state law rather than tribal law. As such, same-sex marriage is legal in the reservation of the tribe, which they share with Nevada near the community of McDermitt.

While there are no records of same-sex marriages as understood from a Western perspective being performed in Native American cultures, there is evidence for identities and behaviours that may be placed on the LGBT spectrum. Many of these cultures recognized two-spirit individuals who were born male but wore women's clothing and performed everyday household work and artistic handiwork which were regarded as belonging to the feminine sphere. This two-spirit status allowed for marriages between two biological males or two biological females to be performed among some of these tribes. The Northern Paiute people refer to two-spirit people who crossed out of the masculine gender as tudayapi, and they were free to marry either men or women. In the Sahaptin language, they are known as wáƛ̓uks. Among the Klamath people, two-spirit individuals are known as tʼwiniˑqʼ. The tʼwiniˑqʼ wore women's clothing and "behaved as women". They married cisgender men, and usually took the role of a shaman and were credited with great spirit power. The Takelma call them xawisa. In Chinook Jargon, two-spirit people are called burdash. Its origin is from the French word bardache, which gave in English berdache, now dated and considered offensive. Two-spirit is translated as naaxe me’staa~ni in Tolowa.

Economic impact
An April 2014 study by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles found that allowing marriage for same-sex couples would add $47.3 million to Oregon's economy during the first three years. The study estimated that allowing same-sex marriage would also add 468 new jobs to the state economy.

Marriage statistics
The following table shows the number of same-sex marriages performed in Oregon since legalization according to the Oregon Center for Health Statistics.

Most same-sex marriages are performed in Multnomah, Washington and Lane counties; Multnomah accounting for approximately 39% of the state's same-sex marriages by the end of 2019. Wheeler County was the last county in Oregon where a same-sex marriage took place, as its first marriage was performed in 2022. The first same-sex marriage in Gilliam County was performed in 2020. In 2014 and 2015, lesbian couples accounted for the majority of same-sex marriages; 68% in 2014 and 64% the following year.

The 2020 U.S. census showed that there were 11,948 married same-sex couple households (4,725 male couples and 7,223 female couples) and 9,058 unmarried same-sex couple households in Oregon.

Public opinion
A June 2011 Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey found that 48% of Oregon voters thought marriage for same-sex couples should be legal, while 42% thought it should be illegal and 11% were not sure. A separate question on the same survey found that 76% of Oregon voters supported the legal recognition of same-sex couples, with 43% supporting same-sex marriage, 33% supporting civil unions but not marriage, 22% favoring no legal recognition and 1% not sure. A June 2012 PPP survey found that 46% of Oregon voters thought same-sex marriage should be legal, while 45% thought it should be illegal and 9% were not sure. A separate question on the same survey found that 74% of Oregon voters supported the legal recognition of same-sex couples, with 44% supporting same-sex marriage, 30% supporting civil unions but not marriage, 23% favoring no legal recognition and 3% not sure. A December 2012 PPP survey found that 54% of Oregon voters thought marriage for same-sex couples should be allowed, while 40% thought it should not be allowed and 5% were not sure.

According to an April 2013 DHM Research poll, 49% of Oregon voters supported amending the Oregon Constitution to allow marriage for same-sex couples, while 42% were opposed and 9% were undecided.

A February 2014 poll released by Oregon United For Marriage showed that 55% of respondents supported same-sex marriage, while 41% were opposed. According to a May 2014 DHM Research poll, 58% of Oregon voters supported amending the Oregon Constitution to permit same-sex marriages, 36% were opposed and 6% were undecided. A survey conducted by PPP that same month found that 54% of Oregon voters thought same-sex marriage should be allowed, while 40% thought it should not be allowed and 6% were not sure.

A 2015 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) showed that 62% of Oregon respondents supported same-sex marriage. In 2016, the polling organization placed support at 65%. In 2017, the PRRI placed support at 67%, with 25% opposed and 8% undecided. A 2020 survey from the same polling organization showed that 73% of Oregon respondents supported same-sex marriage, while 20% were opposed and 7% were undecided or did not answer. A survey conducted by the PRRI between March and November 2021 showed that 73% of Oregon respondents were in favor of same-sex marriage, while 26% were opposed and 1% were undecided. According to a survey conducted by the same polling organization between March 11 and December 14, 2022, 78% of Oregon respondents supported same-sex marriage, while 22% were opposed.

title: Same-sex marriage in Oregon


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Arrabbiata sauce

Arrabbiata sauce, known in Italian as sugo all'arrabbiata (arabbiata in Romanesco dialect ), is a spicy sauce for pasta made from garlic, tomatoes, and dried red chili peppers cooked in olive oil. The sauce originates from the Lazio region of Italy, and particularly from the city of Rome.

Origin of the name
Arrabbiata literally means 'angry' in Italian; in Romanesco dialect the adjective arabbiato denotes a characteristic (in this case spiciness) pushed to excess. In Rome, in fact, any food cooked in a pan with a lot of oil, garlic and chili so as to provoke a strong thirst is called "arrabbiato" (e.g. broccoli arrabbiati).

History
The invention of the dish dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, at a time when hot (meaning here spicy or peppery) food was in vogue in Roman cuisine. The dish has been celebrated several times in Italian movies, notably in Marco Ferreri's La Grande Bouffe (1973) and Federico Fellini's Roma (1972).

Ingredients
The main ingredients are peeled tomatoes, garlic, plenty of cayenne chili peppers, salt and extra virgin olive oil. Sometimes grated parmesan and pecorino romano cheese are added to the pasta.

title: Arrabbiata sauce


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SIUH Community Park

The Staten Island University Hospital Community Park (also SIUH Community Park; formerly the Richmond County Bank Ballpark) is a baseball stadium located on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City. The ballpark is the home of the Staten Island FerryHawks, a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, and is the largest stadium in the league by capacity, at 7,171. Since 2022, it has also been the home of the Wagner College Seahawks baseball team. In addition, local high schools have the chance to play at least one game a season at the park.

From 2001 to 2020, it hosted the Staten Island Yankees, the New York–Penn League affiliate of the New York Yankees. The ballpark was previously home to the city's Pro Cricket team, the New York Storm, in 2004.

Site
The site on which the ballpark was built, on St. George overlooking New York Harbor, was once the site of the B&O Railroad rail yards for the City of New York, and the current stadium parking lot was the site of Major League Baseball in the 1880s. The New York Metropolitans of the American Association played at the St. George Grounds in 1886–1887 and the New York Giants played there while awaiting the construction of the second Polo Grounds.

Richmond County Bank Ballpark was part of a deal with both the Yankees and New York Mets, brokered by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Due to Major League Baseball territory rules, the Yankees and Mets have veto power over each other (and any other Major League Baseball franchise), if they want to bring an affiliated minor-league team into the New York City metropolitan area. The Yankees and Mets had attempted to move minor-league teams to the area in the past, only to be turned down with their rival. With help (and public money) from the mayor, both teams agreed to allow each other to have a minor-league team in the city in return for new stadiums. The Mets moved a franchise to a new stadium, called Keyspan Park (renamed Maimonides Park in 2021), in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 8, 2000, upon which RCB's sponsorship was announced. The park opened a little more than a year later on June 24, 2001.

Use
When the September 11 attacks happened across New York Harbor, the RCB Ballpark was used as a staging area for emergency workers due to its proximity to the Staten Island Ferry's St. George Terminal, and thus to Manhattan. After the attacks, the RCB Ballpark soon became a "spiritual link and sight line to Manhattan" for Staten Island residents.

In 2005, RCB Ballpark hosted two of the four concerts of the Across the Narrows Festival. The other two concerts took place simultaneously at KeySpan Park. On August 17, 2010, RCB Ballpark hosted the NY-Penn League All Star Game. This was the ballpark's first opportunity to host the game and the second time that it was held in New York City.

On August 5, 2017, Impact Wrestling hosted a live event at the stadium. 1,100 fans attended the event.

In 2018 and 2019, the Richmond County Bank Ballpark was host to the MAAC Baseball Tournament.

On November 7, 2020, the New York Yankees announced that they were withdrawing their team from Staten Island, but they would seek to place a team from the independent Atlantic League at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in 2021. The New York City Economic Development Corporation is looking at $5 million in stadium upgrades, including field reconfiguration and synthetic-turf installation, to host Atlantic League games, as well as rugby and soccer. In August 2021, the ballpark's lease was transferred from the Staten Island Yankees to Staten Island Entertainment, owners of the Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League. In April 2022, the park was renamed Staten Island University Hospital, Community Park (SIUH Community Park), following a five-year naming rights deal with Staten Island University Hospital (owned by Northwell Health).

Design
SIUH Community Park was designed by Populous and Architecture +. It was designed to take advantage of the stadium's location overlooking New York Harbor. The main entrance to the stadium is located on street level with the seating bowl and field built below street level. Sails at each entrance are a reference to the Staten Island Ferry boats, which frequently pass nearby, and the St. George Ferry Terminal, which is about 0.33 mi away. The batter's eye in center field is able to retract so that spectators can view the Manhattan skyline.

RCB Ballpark has 18 regular-sized luxury suites along with a 60-person Skyline Suite with one of the best views of the harbor. A small kids' area is located down the left-field line with games.

A replica of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is located on top of the main scoreboard, which formerly contained the letters "RC" attached to the front which was done to resemble the logo of the Richmond County branch of the New York Community Bank, the former of which formerly was the sponsor of the park. The letters were removed in 2022. The outfield walls have changed several times over the course of the stadium's history. Originally the stadium had four LED video boards spaced out on the outfield wall that would display rotating advertisements throughout the game. After these boards malfunctioned the team replaced them with traditional signage along the wall. These signs were replaced with a new 200 ft video board in right field in 2007. The new video board is one of the longest in the minors. Also in 2007 the Ballpark received a brand new high-definition main video board on top of the scoreboard.

Transportation
The St. George Terminal of the Staten Island Ferry is less than a five-minute walk from the ballpark. The S40 and S44 buses directly serve the stadium, but the stadium is accessible from the buses that terminate at the St. George Ferry Terminal.

The St. George station of the Staten Island Railway is also at the ferry terminal. From 2001 to 2009, on game days during the baseball season, SIR trains served the RCB Ballpark station adjacent to the stadium, with trains from both St. George and Tottenville. In 2010, train service to RCB Ballpark station was suspended due to budget cuts from the MTA.

title: SIUH Community Park