title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Insects provide an opportunity to explore this since they exhibit an unparalleled diversity of social forms to permanent colonies containing many individuals working together as a collective organism and have evolved an impressive range of cognitive skills despite their small nervous systems. Social insects are shaped by ecology, including their social environment. Studies aimed to correlating brain volume to complexity have failed to identify clear correlations between sociality and cognition because of cases like social insects. In humans, societies are usually held together by the ability of individuals to recognize features indicating group membership. Social insects, likewise, often recognize members of their colony allowing them to defend against competitors. Ants do this by comparing odors which require fine discrimination of multicomponent variable cues. Studies suggest this recognition is achieved through simple cognitive operations that do not involve long-term memory but through sensory adaptation or habituation. In honeybees, their symbolic 'dance' is a form of communication that they use to convey information with the rest of their colony. In an even more impressive social use of their dance language, bees indicate suitable nest locations to a swarm in search of a new home. The swarm builds a consensus from multiple 'opinions' expressed by scouts with different information, to finally agree on a single destination to which the swarm relocates.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Similar to but distinct from the social brain hypothesis is the cultural intelligence or cultural brain hypothesis, which dictates that human brain size, cognitive ability and intelligence have increased over generations due to cultural information from a mechanism known as social learning. The hypothesis also predicts a positive correlation between species with a higher dependency and more frequent opportunities for social learning and overall cognitive ability. This is because social learning allows species to develop cultural skills and strategies for survival; in this way it can be said that heavily cultural species should in theory be more intelligent.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Humans have been widely acknowledged as the most intelligent species on the planet, with big brains with ample cognitive abilities and processing power which outcompete all other species. In fact, humans have shown an enormous increase in brain size and intelligence over millions of years of evolution. This is because humans have been referred to as an 'evolved cultural species'; one that has an unrivalled reliance on culturally transmitted knowledge due to the social environment around us. This is down to social transmission of information which spreads significantly faster in human populations relative to changes in genetics. Put simply, we are the most cultural species there is, and are therefore the most intelligent species there is. The key point when concerning evolution of intelligence is that this cultural information has been consistently transmitted across generations to build vast amounts of cultural skills and knowledge throughout the human race. Dunbar's social brain hypothesis on the other hand dictates that our brains evolved primarily due to complex social interactions in groups, so in this way the two hypotheses are distinct from each other in that the cultural intelligence hypothesis focuses more on an in increase in intelligence from socially transmitted information. We see a shift in focus from 'social' interactions to learning strategies. The hypothesis can also be seen to contradict the idea of human 'general intelligence' by emphasising the process of cultural skills and information being learned from others.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: In 2018, Muthukrishna and researchers constructed a model based on the cultural intelligence hypothesis which revealed relationships between brain size, group size, social learning and mating structures. The model had three underlying assumptions:


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Using evolutionary simulation the researchers were able to confirm the existence of hypothesised relationships. Results concerning the cultural intelligence hypothesis model showed that larger brains can store more information and adaptive knowledge, thus supporting larger groups. This abundance of adaptive knowledge can then be used for frequent social learning opportunities.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: As previously mentioned, social learning is the foundation of the cultural intelligence hypothesis and can be described simplistically as learning from others. It involves behaviours such as imitation, observational learning, influences from family and friends and explicit teaching from others. What sets humans apart from other species is that, due to our emphasis on culturally acquired information, we have evolved to already possess significant social learning abilities from infancy. Neurological studies on nine month old infants were conducted by researchers in 2012 to demonstrate this phenomenon. The study involved infants observing a caregiver making a sound with a rattle over a period of one week. The brains of the infants were monitored throughout the study. Researchers found that the infants were able to activate neural pathways associated with making a sound with the rattle without actually doing the action themselves. Here we can see human social learning in action- infants were able to understand the effects of a particular action simply by observing the performance of the action by someone else. Not only does this study demonstrate the neural mechanisms of social learning, but it also demonstrates our inherent ability to acquire cultural skills from those around us from the very start of our lives- it therefore shows strong support for the cultural intelligent hypothesis.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Various studies have been conducted to show the cultural intelligence hypothesis in action on a wider scale. One particular study in 2016 investigated two orangutan species, including the more social Sumatran species and the less sociable Bornean species. The aim was to test the notion that species with a higher frequency of opportunities for social learning should evolve to be more intelligent. Results showed that the Sumatrans consistently performed better in cognitive tests compared to the less Borneans. The Sumatrans also showed greater inhibition and more cautious behaviour within their habitat. This was one of the first studies to show evidence for the cultural intelligence hypothesis in a non human species- frequency of learning opportunities had gradually produced differences in cognitive abilities between the two species.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: A study in 2018 proposed an altered variant of the original version of the hypothesis called the 'transformative cultural intelligence hypothesis'. The research involved investigating four year old's problem solving skills in different social contexts. The children were asked to extract a floating object from a tube using water. Nearly were all unsuccessful without cues, however most children succeeded after being shown a pedagogical solution suggesting video. When the same video was shown in a non pedagogical manner however, the children's success in the task did not improve. Crucially, this meant that the children's physical cognition and problem solving ability was therefore affected by how the task was socially presented to them. Researchers thus formulated the transformative cultural intelligence hypothesis, which stresses that our physical cognition is developed and affected by the social environment around us. This challenges the traditional cultural intelligence hypothesis which states that it is humans social cognition and not physical cognition which is superior to our nearest primate relatives; here we uniquely see physical cognition in humans affected by external social factors. This phenomenon has not been seen in other species.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Another theory that tries to explain the growth of human intelligence is the reduced aggression theory (aka self-domestication theory). According to this strand of thought what led to the evolution of advanced intelligence in "Homo sapiens" was a drastic reduction of the aggressive drive. This change separated us from other species of monkeys and primates, where this aggressivity is still in plain sight, and eventually lead to the development of quintessential human traits such as empathy, social cognition and culture. This theory has received strong support from studies of animal domestication where selective breeding for tameness has, in only a few generations, led to the emergence of impressive "humanlike" abilities. Tamed foxes, for example, exhibit advanced forms of social communication (following pointing gestures), pedomorphic physical features (childlike faces, floppy ears) and even rudimentary forms of theory of mind (eye contact seeking, gaze following). Evidence also comes from the field of ethology (which is the study of animal behavior, focused on observing species in their natural habitat rather than in controlled laboratory settings) where it has been found that animals with a gentle and relaxed manner of interacting with each other – like for example stumptailed macaques, orangutans and bonobos – have more advanced socio-cognitive abilities than those found among the more aggressive chimpanzees and baboons. It is hypothesized that these abilities derive from a selection against aggression.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: On a mechanistic level these changes are believed to be the result of a systemic downregulation of the sympathetic nervous system (the fight-or-flight reflex). Hence, tamed foxes show a reduced adrenal gland size and have an up to fivefold reduction in both basal and stress-induced blood cortisol levels. Similarly, domesticated rats and guinea pigs have both reduced adrenal gland size and reduced blood corticosterone levels. It seems as though the neoteny of domesticated animals significantly prolongs the immaturity of their hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system (which is otherwise only immature for a short period when they are pups/kittens) and this opens up a larger "socialization window" during which they can learn to interact with their caretakers in a more relaxed way.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: This downregulation of sympathetic nervous system reactivity is also believed to be accompanied by a compensatory increase in a number of opposing organs and systems. Although these are not as well specified various candidates for such "organs" have been proposed: the parasympathetic system as a whole, the septal area over the amygdala, the oxytocin system, the endogenous opioids and various forms of quiescent immobilization which antagonize the fight-or-flight reflex.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Other studies suggest that social exchange between individuals is a vital adaptation to the human brain, going as far to say that the human mind could be equipped with a neurocognitive system specialized for reasoning about social exchange.This adaption is predicted to evolve when two parties are both better off than they were before by mutually exchanging things they value less for things they value more. However, selection will only favor social exchange when both parties benefit. Consequently, the existence of cheaters—those who fail to deliver fair benefits—threatens the evolution of exchange. Using evolutionary game theory, it has been shown that adaptations for social exchange can be favored and stably maintained by natural selection, but only if they include design features that enable them to detect cheaters, and cause them to channel future exchanges to reciprocators and away from cheaters. Thus, humans use social contracts to lay the benefits and losses each party will be receiving (if you accept benefit B from me, then you must satisfy my requirement R). Humans have evolved an advanced cheater detection system, equipped with proprietary problem-solving strategies that evolved to match the recurrent features of their corresponding problem domains. Not only do humans need to determine that the contract was violated, but also if the violation was intentionally done. Therefore, systems are specialized to detect contract violations that imply intentional cheating.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: One problem with the hypothesis that specific punishment for intentional deception could coevolve with intelligence is the fact that selective punishment of individuals with certain characteristics selects against the characteristics in question. For example, if only individuals capable of remembering what they had agreed to were punished for breaking agreements, evolution would have selected against the ability to remember what one had agreed to. Though this becomes a superficial argument after considering the balancing positive selection for the ability to successfully 'make ones case'. Intelligence predicts the number of arguments one can make when taking either side of a debate. Humans who could get away with behaviours that exploited within and without-group cooperation, getting more while giving less, would overcome this.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: In 2004, psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa argued that "g" was a domain-specific, species-typical, information processing psychological adaptation, and in 2010, Kanazawa argued that "g" correlated only with performance on evolutionarily unfamiliar rather than evolutionarily familiar problems, proposing what he termed the "Savanna-IQ interaction hypothesis". In 2006, "Psychological Review" published a comment reviewing Kanazawa's 2004 article by psychologists Denny Borsboom and Conor Dolan that argued that Kanazawa's conception of "g" was empirically unsupported and purely hypothetical and that an evolutionary account of "g" must address it as a source of individual differences, and in response to Kanazawa's 2010 article, psychologists Scott Barry Kaufman, Colin G. DeYoung, Deirdre Reis, and Jeremy R. Gray gave 112 subjects a 70-item computerized version of the Wason selection task (a logic puzzle) in a social relations context as proposed by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby in "The Adapted Mind", and found instead that "performance on non-arbitrary, evolutionarily familiar problems is more strongly related to general intelligence than performance on arbitrary, evolutionarily novel problems".


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Peter Cathcart Wason originally demonstrated that not even 10% of subjects found the correct solution and his finding was replicated. Psychologists Patricia Cheng, Keith Holyoak, Richard E. Nisbett, and Lindsay M. Oliver demonstrated experimentally that subjects who have completed semester-long college courses in propositional calculus do not perform better on the Wason selection task than subjects who do not complete such college courses. Tooby and Cosmides originally proposed a social relations context for the Wason selection task as part of a larger computational theory of social exchange after they began reviewing the previous experiments about the task beginning in 1983. Despite other experimenters finding that some contexts elicited more correct subject responses than others, no theoretical explanation for differentiating between them was identified until Tooby and Cosmides proposed that disparities in subjects performance on contextualized versus non-contextualized variations of the task was a by-product of a specialized cheater-detection module, and Tooby and Cosmides later noted that whether there are evolved cognitive mechanisms for the content-blind rules of logical inference is disputed.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Additionally, economist Thomas Sowell has noted that numerous studies finding disparities between the mean test scores of ethnic groups on intelligence tests have found that ethnic groups with lower mean test scores have tended to perform worst on non-verbal, non-informational, or abstract reasoning test items. Writing after the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, psychologist Earl B. Hunt noted in 2011 that no genes related to differences in cognitive skills across various racial and ethnic groups had ever been discovered, and in 2012, "American Psychologist" published a review of new findings by psychologists Richard E. Nisbett, Joshua Aronson, Clancy Blair, Diane F. Halpern, and Eric Turkheimer, economist William Dickens, and philosopher James R. Flynn that concluded that almost no single-nucleotide genetic polymorphisms that have been discovered are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: This model, which invokes sexual selection, is proposed by Geoffrey Miller who argues that human intelligence is unnecessarily sophisticated for the needs of hunter-gatherers to survive. He argues that the manifestations of intelligence such as language, music and art did not evolve because of their utilitarian value to the survival of ancient hominids. Rather, intelligence may have been a fitness indicator. Hominids would have been chosen for greater intelligence as an indicator of healthy genes and a Fisherian runaway positive feedback loop of sexual selection would have led to the evolution of human intelligence in a relatively short period. Philosopher Denis Dutton also argued that the human capacity for aesthetics evolved by sexual selection.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Evolutionary biologist George C. Williams and evolutionary medicine researcher Randolph M. Nesse cite evolutionary psychologists John Tooby and Leda Cosmides as referring to the emotions as "Darwinian algorithms of the mind", while social psychologist David Buss has argued that the sex-specialized differences in the emotion of jealousy are adaptive strategies for detecting infidelity by a mating partner and anthropologists Donald E. Brown and Ward Goodenough have argued that marriage is a cultural universal that evolved to regulate sexual access to fertile women within a particular culture in response to male intrasexual competition and dominance. Citing cross-cultural research conducted by Buss, Miller has argued that if humans prefer altruistic mating partners that would select by mate choice for altruism directly. Additionally, Nesse and theoretical biologist Mary Jane West-Eberhard view sexual selection as a subcategory of social selection, with Nesse and anthropologist Christopher Boehm arguing further that altruism in humans held fitness advantages that enabled evolutionarily extraordinary cooperativeness and the human capability of creating culture, as well as capital punishment by band societies against bullies, thieves, free-riders, and psychopaths.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: In many species, only males have impressive secondary sexual characteristics such as ornaments and show-off behavior, but sexual selection is also thought to be able to act on females as well in at least partially monogamous species. With complete monogamy, there is assortative mating for sexually selected traits. This means that less attractive individuals will find other less attractive individuals to mate with. If attractive traits are good fitness indicators, this means that sexual selection increases the genetic load of the offspring of unattractive individuals. Without sexual selection, an unattractive individual might find a superior mate with few deleterious mutations, and have healthy children that are likely to survive. With sexual selection, an unattractive individual is more likely to have access only to an inferior mate who is likely to pass on many deleterious mutations to their joint offspring, who are then less likely to survive.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Sexual selection is often thought to be a likely explanation for other female-specific human traits, for example breasts and buttocks far larger in proportion to total body size than those found in related species of ape. It is often assumed that if breasts and buttocks of such large size were necessary for functions such as suckling infants, they would be found in other species. That human female breasts (typical mammalian breast tissue is small) are found sexually attractive by many men is in agreement with sexual selection acting on human females secondary sexual characteristics.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Sexual selection for intelligence and judging ability can act on indicators of success, such as highly visible displays of wealth. Growing human brains require more nutrition than brains of related species of ape. It is possible that for females to successfully judge male intelligence, they must be intelligent themselves. This could explain why despite the absence of clear differences in intelligence between males and females on average, there are clear differences between male and female propensities to display their intelligence in ostentatious forms.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: The sexual selection by the disability principle/fitness display model of the evolution of human intelligence is criticized by certain researchers for issues of timing of the costs relative to reproductive age. While sexually selected ornaments such as peacock feathers and moose antlers develop either during or after puberty, timing their costs to a sexually mature age, human brains expend large amounts of nutrients building myelin and other brain mechanisms for efficient communication between the neurons early in life. These costs early in life build facilitators that reduce the cost of neuron firing later in life, and as a result the peaks of the brain's costs and the peak of the brain's performance are timed on opposite sides of puberty with the costs peaking at a sexually immature age while performance peaks at a sexually mature age. Critical researchers argue the above shows that the cost of intelligence is a signal which reduces the chance of surviving to reproductive age, and does not signal fitness of sexually mature individuals. Since the disability principle is about selection from disabilities in sexually immature individuals, which increases the offspring's chance of survival to reproductive age, disabilities would be selected against and not for by the above mechanism. These critics argue that human intelligence evolved by natural selection citing that unlike sexual selection, natural selection have produced many traits that cost the most nutrients before puberty including immune systems and accumulation and modification for increased toxicity of poisons in the body as a protective measure against predators.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: The number of people with severe cognitive impairment caused by childhood viral infections like meningitis, protists like "Toxoplasma" and "Plasmodium", and animal parasites like intestinal worms and schistosomes is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. Even more people with moderate mental damages, such as inability to complete difficult tasks, that are not classified as 'diseases' by medical standards, may still be considered as inferior mates by potential sexual partners.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Thus, widespread, virulent, and archaic infections are greatly involved in natural selection for cognitive abilities. People infected with parasites may have brain damage and obvious maladaptive behavior in addition to visible signs of disease. Smarter people can more skillfully learn to distinguish safe non-polluted water and food from unsafe kinds and learn to distinguish mosquito infested areas from safe areas. Smarter people can more skillfully find and develop safe food sources and living environments. Given this situation, preference for smarter child-bearing/rearing partners increases the chance that their descendants will inherit the best resistance alleles, not only for immune system resistance to disease, but also smarter brains for learning skills in avoiding disease and selecting nutritious food. When people search for mates based on their success, wealth, reputation, disease-free body appearance, or psychological traits such as benevolence or confidence; the effect is to select for superior intelligence that results in superior disease resistance.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: A predominant model describing the evolution of human intelligence is ecological dominance-social competition (EDSC), explained by Mark V. Flinn, David C. Geary and Carol V. Ward based mainly on work by Richard D. Alexander. According to the model, human intelligence was able to evolve to significant levels because of the combination of increasing domination over habitat and increasing importance of social interactions. As a result, the primary selective pressure for increasing human intelligence shifted from learning to master the natural world to competition for dominance among members or groups of its own species.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: As advancement, survival and reproduction within an increasing complex social structure favored ever more advanced social skills, communication of concepts through increasingly complex language patterns ensued. Since competition had shifted bit by bit from controlling "nature" to influencing other humans, it became of relevance to outmaneuver other members of the group seeking leadership or acceptance, by means of more advanced social skills. A more social and communicative person would be more easily selected.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Human intelligence is developed to an extreme level that is not necessarily adaptive in an evolutionary sense. Firstly, larger-headed babies are more difficult to give birth to and large brains are costly in terms of nutrient and oxygen requirements. Thus the direct adaptive benefit of human intelligence is questionable at least in modern societies, while it is difficult to study in prehistoric societies. Since 2005, scientists have been evaluating genomic data on gene variants thought to influence head size, and have found no evidence that those genes are under strong selective pressure in current human populations. The trait of head size has become generally fixed in modern human beings.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: While decreased brain size has strong correlation with lower intelligence in humans, some modern humans have brain sizes as small as with "Homo erectus" but normal intelligence (based on IQ tests) for modern humans. Increased brain size in humans may allow for greater capacity for specialized expertise.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: The two major perspectives on primate brain evolution are the concerted and mosaic approaches. In the concerted evolution approach, cortical expansions in the brain are considered to be a by-product of a larger brain, rather than adaptive potential. Studies have supported the concerted evolution model by finding cortical expansions between macaques and marmosets are comparable to that of humans and macaques. Researchers attribute this result to the constraints on the evolutionary process of increasing brain size. In the mosaic approach, cortical expansions are attributed to their adaptive advantage for the species. Researchers have attributed hominin evolution to mosaic evolution.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Simian primate brain evolution studies show that specific cortical regions associated with high-level cognition have demonstrated the greatest expansion over primate brain evolution. Sensory and motor regions have showcased limited growth. Three regions associated with complex cognition include the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and the medial wall of the cortex. Studies demonstrate that the enlargement in these regions is disproportionately centered in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The TPJ is located in the parietal lobe and is associated with morality, theory of mind, and spatial awareness. Additionally, the Wernicke's area is located in the TPJ. Studies have suggested that the region assists in language production, as well as language processing. The LPFC is commonly associated with planning and working memory functions. The Broca's area, the second major region associated with language processing, is also located in the LPFC. The ACC is associated with detecting errors, monitoring conflict, motor control, and emotion. Specifically, researchers have found that the ACC in humans is disproportionately expanded when compared to the ACC in macaques.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Fossils show that although "Homo sapiens"' total brain volume approached modern levels as early as 300,000 years ago, parietal lobes and cerebella grew relative to total volume after this point, reaching current levels of variation at some point between the approximate dates of 100,000 and 35,000 years ago.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Studies on cortical expansions in the brain have been used to examine the evolutionary basis of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. For example, researchers associate the expanded TPJ region with Alzheimer's disease. However, other researchers found no correlation between expanded cortical regions in the human brain and the development of Alzheimer's disease.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Human brain evolution involves cellular, genetic, and circuitry changes. On a genetic level, humans have a modified FOXP2 gene, which is associated with speech and language development. The human variant of the gene SRGAP2, SRGAP2C, enables greater dendritic spine density which fosters greater neural connections. On a cellular level, studies demonstrate von Economo neurons (VENs) are more prevalent in humans than other primates. Studies show that VENs are associated with empathy, social awareness and self-control. Studies show that the striatum plays a role in understanding reward and pair-bond formation. On a circuitry level, humans exhibit a more complex mirror neuron system, greater connection between the two major language processing areas (Wernicke's area and Broca's area), and a vocal control circuit that connects the motor cortex and brain stem. The mirror neuron system is associated with social cognition, theory of mind, and empathy. Studies have demonstrated the presence of the mirror neuron system in both macaques in humans; However, the mirror neuron system is only activated in macaques when observing transitive movements.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Group selection theory contends that organism characteristics that provide benefits to a group (clan, tribe, or larger population) can evolve despite individual disadvantages such as those cited above. The group benefits of intelligence (including language, the ability to communicate between individuals, the ability to teach others, and other cooperative aspects) have apparent utility in increasing the survival potential of a group.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: In addition, the theory of group selection is inherently tied to Darwin's theory of natural selection. Specifically, that "group-related adaptations must be attributed to the natural selection of alternative groups of individuals and that the natural selection of alternative alleles within populations will be opposed to this development".


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Between-group selection can be used to explain the changes and adaptations that arise within a group of individuals. Group-related adaptations and changes are a byproduct of between-group selection as traits or characteristics that prove to be advantageous in relation to another group will become increasingly popular and disseminated within a group. In the end, increasing its overall chance of surviving a competing group.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: However, this explanation cannot be applied to humans (and other species, predominantly other mammals) that live in stable, established social groupings. This is because of the social intelligence that functioning within these groups requires from the individual. Humans, while they are not the only ones, possess the cognitive and mental capacity to form systems of personal relationships and ties that extend well beyond those of the nucleus of family. The continuous process of creating, interacting, and adjusting to other individuals is a key component of many species' ecology.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: These concepts can be tied to the social brain hypothesis, mentioned above. This hypothesis posits that human cognitive complexity arose as a result of the higher level of social complexity required from living in enlarged groups. These bigger groups entail a greater amount of social relations and interactions thus leading to an expanded quantity of intelligence in humans. However, this hypothesis has been under academic scrutiny in recent years and has been largely disproven. In fact, the size of a species' brain can be much better predicted by diet instead of measures of sociality as noted by the study conducted by DeCasien et al. They found that ecological factors (such as: folivory/frugivory, environment) explain a primate brain size much better than social factors (such as: group size, mating system).


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Early hominins dating back to pre 3.5 Ma in Africa ate primarily plant foods supplemented by insects and scavenged meat. Their diets are evidenced by their 'robust' dento-facial features of small canines, large molars, and enlarged masticatory muscles that allowed them to chew through tough plant fibers. Intelligence played a role in the acquisition of food, through the use of tool technology such as stone anvils and hammers.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: There is no direct evidence of the role of nutrition in the evolution of intelligence dating back to "Homo erectus", contrary to dominant narratives in paleontology that link meat-eating to the appearance of modern human features such as a larger brain. However, scientists suggest that nutrition did play an important role, such as the consumption of a diverse diet including plant foods and new technologies for cooking and processing food such as fire.


title: Evolution of human intelligence

text: Diets deficient in iron, zinc, protein, iodine, B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, magnesium and other nutrients can result in lower intelligence either in the mother during pregnancy or in the child during development. While these inputs did not have an effect on the evolution of intelligence they do govern its expression. A higher intelligence could be a signal that an individual comes from and lives in a physical and social environment where nutrition levels are high, whereas a lower intelligence could imply a child, its mother, or both, come from a physical and social environment where nutritional levels are low. Previc emphasizes the contribution of nutritional factors to elevations of dopaminergic activity in the brain, which may have been responsible for the evolution of human intelligence since dopamine is crucial to working memory, cognitive shifting, abstract, distant concepts, and other hallmarks of advanced intelligence.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but subsequently rebuilt and by the 14th century was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England. The abbey controlled large tracts of the surrounding land and was instrumental in major drainage projects on the Somerset Levels. The abbey was suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII of England. The last abbot, Richard Whiting (Whyting), was hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor on Glastonbury Tor in 1539.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: From at least the 12th century the Glastonbury area has been associated with the legend of King Arthur, a connection promoted by medieval monks who asserted that Glastonbury was Avalon. Christian legends have claimed that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea in the 1st century.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: Suggestions that Glastonbury may have been a site of religious importance in Celtic or pre-Celtic times are considered dubious by the historian Ronald Hutton, but archaeological investigations by the University of Reading have demonstrated Roman and Saxon occupation of the site. In 1955 Ralegh Radford's excavations uncovered Romano-British pottery at the west end of the cloister. The abbey was founded by Britons and dates at least to the early-7th century. Dark Age occupation of the site is evidenced by pieces of ceramic wine jars that were imported from the Mediterranean. A medieval Christian legend claimed that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea in the 1st century. This fanciful legend is intimately tied to Robert de Boron's version of the Holy Grail story and Glastonbury's connection with King Arthur from the early-12th century. William of Malmesbury reports the terms of a grant of land made by King Gwrgan of Damnonia to the "old church" at Glastonbury in AD 601 in the time of Abbot Worgret.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: Glastonbury fell into Saxon hands after the Battle of Peonnum in 658. Saxons under Cenwalh of Wessex conquered Somerset as far west as the River Parrett, perhaps with the intention of gaining control of the abbey. Cenwalh allowed the British abbot, Bregored, to remain in power, a move perhaps intended as a show of good faith to the defeated Britons. After Bregored's death in 669, he was replaced by an Anglo-Saxon, Berhtwald, but British monks remained for many years.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: King Ine of Wessex enriched the endowment of the community of monks established at Glastonbury and reputed to have directed that a stone church be built in 712, the foundations of which form the west end of the nave. A glassworks was established at the site during the 7th century. Glastonbury was ravaged by the Danes in the 9th century. The contemporary reformed soldier Saint Neot was sacristan at Glastonbury before he founded his own establishment in Somerset. The abbey church was enlarged in the 10th century by the abbot of Glastonbury, Dunstan, the central figure in the 10th-century revival of English monastic life, who instituted the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury. He also built the cloisters. Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. In 946, King Edmund was interred at Glastonbury. In 1016 Edmund Ironside, who had lost England to Canute but held onto the title of King of Wessex, was also buried there. Cnut's charter of 1032 was "written and promulgated in the wooden church at Glastonbury, in the king's presence".


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The medieval Glastonbury Canal was built about the middle of the 10th century to link the abbey with the River Brue, a distance of about . Its purpose is believed to have been to transport stone to build the abbey, but later it was used to transport produce, including grain, wine and fish, from the abbey's outlying properties. Much of the building stone came from the abbey's quarries at Doulting, accessed by way of the River Sheppey at Pilton. From the 11th century, the abbey was the centre of a large water-borne transport network as further canalisations and new channels were made, including the diversion of the Brue to access to the estate at Meare and an easier route to the Bristol Channel. In the 13th century, the abbey's head boatman transported the abbot in an eight-oared boat on visits to the abbey's nearby manors.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: During the Middle Ages, bone fragments of Saint Caesarius of Terracina were translated to Glastonbury Abbey.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: At the Norman Conquest in 1066, the wealth of Glastonbury made it a prime prize. William the Conqueror made Turstinus a Norman abbot there in 1086. Turstinus added to the church, unusually building to the east of the older Saxon church and away from the ancient cemetery, thus shifting the sanctified site. This was later changed by Herlewin, the next abbot, who built a larger church. Not all the new Normans were suitable heads of religious communities. In 1086, when the Domesday Book was commissioned, Glastonbury Abbey was the richest monastery in the country. About 1125, the abbot Henry of Blois commissioned a history of Glastonbury from the historian William of Malmesbury, who was a guest of the monks. His work "On the Antiquity of the Glastonese Church" was compiled sometime between 1129 and 1139 as part of a campaign to establish the abbey's primacy against Westminster. It is the source for much of our knowledge of the abbey's early history but is far below William's generally excellent standards: his acceptance of the monks' forged charters and unsubstantiated early legends is apparent and even his list of the community's abbots cannot be reconciled with 10th-century originals subsequently discovered. These problems and the discrepancies between "On the Antiquity" and his own later histories has led many scholars to assume that William's original text was more careful and its accounts of "Phagan" and "Deruvian", along with various passages about Arthur, were later additions meant to bolster the monks' case.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: Early drainage work on the Somerset Levels was carried out in the later years of the 12th century, with the responsibility for maintaining all the watercourses between Glastonbury and the sea being placed on named individuals among whom were Ralph de Sancta Barbara of Brentmarsh. In 1129, the abbot of Glastonbury was recorded as inspecting enclosed land at Lympsham. Efforts to control flooding on the Parrett were recorded around the same date. In 1234, were reclaimed near Westonzoyland and, from the accounts in the abbey's rent books, this had increased to by 1240. In the 14th century a Fish House was built at Meare for the chief fisherman of the abbot of Glastonbury that was also used for salting and preparing fish. It is the only surviving monastic fishery building in England. At the time of the Dissolution in 1540, Meare Pool was said to contain a great abundance of pike, tench, roach and eels. In 1638, it was owned by William Freake, who described it as "lately a fish pool". The importance of this industry is illustrated by a series of acrimonious disputes between Glastonbury and the Dean and Chapter of Wells Cathedral. The abbey required fish on Fridays, fast days and during Lent. As many as 5000 eels were landed in a typical year.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: In 1184, a great fire at Glastonbury destroyed the monastic buildings. Reconstruction began almost immediately and the Lady Chapel, which includes the well, was consecrated in 1186. There is evidence that, in the 12th century, the ruined nave was renovated enough for services while the great new church was being constructed. Parts of the walls of the aisle and crossing having been completed by 1189, progress then continued more slowly.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: Pilgrim visits had fallen and in 1191 the alleged discovery of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere's tomb in the cemetery provided fresh impetus for visiting Glastonbury. A contemporaneous, though not an eyewitness, account was given by Giraldus Cambrensis in his "De principis instructione" ("Instruction of a Prince", c. 1193) and recollected in his "Speculum Ecclesiae", c. 1216 according to which the abbot, Henry de Sully, commissioned a search, discovering at the depth of a massive hollowed oak trunk containing two skeletons. Above it, under the covering stone, according to Giraldus, was a lead cross with the unmistakably specific inscription "" ("Here lies interred the famous King Arthur on the Isle of Avalon").


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: According to Giraldus, the digging for the tomb was prompted by the intelligence obtained by Henry II from an "aged British (Welsh) bard" (). On the other hand, Ralph of Coggeshall writing somewhat later, states more prosaically that they came upon the older tomb by chance while removing the earth to bury a certain monk who had expressed strong desire to be buried there. Both Giraldus and Ralph say that the spot lay in between two pyramids in the abbey. William of Malmesbury does not refer to Arthur's tomb but elaborates on the pyramids of varying height, upon which were statues with inscriptions "Her Sexi, and Bliserh ... Pencrest, Bantomp, Pinepegn, etc."


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: Historians today generally dismiss the authenticity of the find, attributing it to a publicity stunt performed to raise funds to repair the Abbey, which was mostly burned in 1184. William of Malmesbury's history of the English kings stated "Arthur's grave is nowhere seen, whence antiquity of fables still claims that he will return" and his work "On the Antiquity of the Glastonese Church"—larded as it is with known and suspected pious forgeries—nowhere mentions a connection between the abbey and either Arthur's grave or Avalon. The fact that the search for Arthur's body is connected to Henry II and Edward I, both kings who fought major Welsh wars, has had scholars suggest that propaganda may have played a part as well. Gerald, a constant supporter of royal authority, in his account of the discovery clearly aims to destroy the idea of the possibility of King Arthur's messianic return: "Many tales are told and many legends have been invented about King Arthur and his mysterious ending. In their stupidity the British [i.e. Welsh, Cornish and Bretons] people maintain that he is still alive. Now that the truth is known, I have taken the trouble to add a few more details in this present chapter. The fairy-tales have been snuffed out, and the true and indubitable facts are made known, so that what really happened must be made crystal clear to all and separated from the myths which have accumulated on the subject."


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: In 1197, Savaric FitzGeldewin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, traded the city of Bath to the king in return for the monastery of Glastonbury. Savaric secured the support of Pope Celestine III for the takeover the abbey as the seat of his bishopric, replacing Bath. The plan was that Savaric would be bishop of Bath as well as abbot of Glastonbury. In his support, Savaric obtained letters from various ecclesiastics, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Walter, that claimed that this arrangement would settle longstanding disputes between the abbey and the bishops. The monks of Glastonbury objected to Savaric's plan, and sent an appeal to Rome, which was dismissed in 1196. But King Richard, no longer imprisoned in Germany, sided with the monks, and allowed them to elect an abbot, William Pica, in place of Savaric, who responded by excommunicating the new abbot. With the succession of John as king in place of his brother Richard in 1199, Savaric managed to force his way into the monastery and set up his episcopal see within the abbey. The monks appealed to Innocent III, the new pope.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: At first, Innocent took the side of the monks, and lifted Pica's excommunication. While the newest appeal was taking place, Pica and a number of his supporters, who had travelled to Rome to appeal in person, died in Rome in 1200, and some of the monks alleged this was by poison administered on the orders of Savaric. Meanwhile, Innocent had changed his mind, and reinstalled Savaric as abbot, ordering some English clergy to judge the specifics of the case, and allot the revenues of the abbey between Savaric and the monks. Savaric then attempted to secure more control over other monasteries in his diocese, but died before he could set the plans in motion.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The bishops continued to use the title "Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury" until finally renouncing their claim to Glastonbury in 1219. Services in the reconsecrated Great Church had begun on Christmas Day, 1213, most likely before it was entirely completed. King Edward I and Queen Eleanor attended the magnificent service at the reburial of King Arthur's remains to the foot of the High Altar in 1278.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: In the 14th century, only Westminster Abbey was more richly endowed and appointed than Glastonbury. The abbot of Glastonbury kept great estate, now attested to simply by the ruins of the Abbot's Kitchen, with four huge fireplaces at its corners. The kitchen was part of the magnificent abbot's house begun under Abbot John de Breynton (1334–42). It is one of the best preserved medieval kitchens in Europe, and the only substantial monastic building surviving at Glastonbury. Archaeological excavations have revealed a special apartment erected at the south end of the abbot's house for a visit from Henry VII, who visited the abbot in a royal progress, as he visited any other great territorial magnate. The conditions of life in England during the Wars of the Roses became so unsettled that a wall was built around the abbey's precincts.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn was built in the late 15th century to accommodate visitors to the abbey. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The abbey also held lands outside the town serving large parts of Somerset and including parts of neighbouring counties. Tithe barns were built to hold the crops due to the abbey including those at Doulting, Mells and Pilton.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: At the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, there were over 850 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England. By 1541, there were none. More than 15,000 monks and nuns had been dispersed and the buildings had been seized by the Crown to be sold off or leased to new lay occupants. Glastonbury Abbey was reviewed as having significant amounts of silver and gold as well as its attached lands. In September 1539, the abbey was visited by Richard Layton, Richard Pollard and Thomas Moyle, who arrived there without warning on the orders of Thomas Cromwell. The abbey was stripped of its valuables and Abbot Richard Whiting (Whyting), who had been a signatory to the Act of Supremacy that made Henry VIII the head of the church, resisted and was hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor on Glastonbury Tor on 15 November 1539.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: After the Dissolution, two of the abbey's manors in Wiltshire were sold by the Crown to John Thynne and thereafter descended in his family, who much later became Marquesses of Bath. The Thynnes have preserved many of the abbey's Wiltshire records at Longleat up to the present day. The ruins of the abbey itself was stripped of lead and dressed stones hauled away to be used in other buildings. The site was granted by Edward VI to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset who established a colony of Protestant Dutch weavers on the site. When Seymour was attainted in 1551, the abbey site reverted to the crown, but the weavers remained until they were removed in the reign of Queen Mary. In 1559 Elizabeth I of England granted the site to Peter Carew, and it remained in private ownership until the beginning of the 20th century. Further stones were removed in the 17th century, so that by the beginning of the 18th century the abbey was described as a ruin. The only building to survive intact is the Abbot's Kitchen, which served as a Quaker meeting house. Early in the 19th century, gunpowder was used to dislodge further stones and the site became a quarry. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 stopped further damage to the site and led to the first historical and archaeological surveys.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey were purchased by the Bath and Wells Diocesan Trust in 1908. The ruins are now the property of and managed by the Glastonbury Abbey trust. On acquiring the site the trust appointed Frederick Bligh Bond to direct an archaeological investigation. Bond discovered the Edgar Chapel, North Porch and St Dunstan's Chapel, however relations with his employers turned sour when he revealed in his 1919 book, "The Gates of Remembrance", that he had made many of his interpretations in collaboration with a psychic medium. He was dismissed by Bishop Armitage Robinson in 1921, because of his use of seances and psychic archaeology but is remembered as the man who "galvanised our cultural understanding of Glastonbury".


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: A pilgrimage to the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey was held by a few local churches in 1924. Pilgrimages continue today to be held; in the second half of June for the Anglicans and early in July for the Catholics and they attract visitors from all over Western Europe. Services are celebrated in the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. The abbey site is visited by over 100,000 a year.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The ruins of the great church, along with the Lady Chapel, are grade I listed buildings, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is set in of parkland and open to the public. It is approached by the abbey gatehouse, which was built in the mid 14th century and completely restored in 1810. The 14th century abbey barn is also open to the public, outside the walls, as part of the Somerset Rural Life Museum.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The great church was in length and wide. The choir was long and the transept was long. St Joseph's chapel was long and wide. The remaining portions are of the clerestory and triforium arcades, which were the supports of the central square tower. Other fragments of structures which remain include portions of the outer walls of the chancel aisles and the 14th century retroquire. There is also surviving stonework from the south nave aisle wall, west front and the Galilee along with its crypt linked to St Mary's Chapel. The Lady Chapel, from which the walls survive, was described in 1478 as being in length and wide.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The Abbot's Kitchen is described as "one of the best preserved medieval kitchens in Europe". The 14th century octagonal building is supported by curved buttresses on each side leading up to a cornice with grotesque gargoyles. Inside are four large arched fireplaces with smoke outlets above them, with another outlet in the centre of the pyramidal roof. The kitchen was attached to the high abbot's hall, although only one small section of its wall remains.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The analysis of the 20th-century archaeological investigations have recently been published along with the results of a new geophysical survey.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The abbey library was described by John Leland, King Henry VIII's antiquary who visited it, as containing unique copies of ancient histories of England and unique early Christian documents. It seems to have been affected by the fire of 1184, but still housed a remarkable collection until 1539 when it was dispersed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Around 40 of the manuscripts from Glastonbury are known to have survived after the dissolution.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: Within the abbey wall is Abbey House, which was used by the Diocese of Bath and Wells as a retreat house from 1931 until 2018. It is now occasionally open to the public for special events and provides additional administration space for the Abbey.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: The Tudor Gothic house was built between 1829 and 1830 by John Buckler from the stones of the abbey ruins for John Fry Reeves. It was altered and extended between 1850 and 1860, with further alterations in 1957.


title: Glastonbury Abbey

text: A specimen of common hawthorn found at Glastonbury, first mentioned in an early 16th-century anonymous metrical "Lyfe of Joseph of Arimathea," was unusual in that it flowered twice in a year, once as normal on "old wood" in spring, and once on "new wood" (the current season's matured new growth) in the winter. This tree has been widely propagated by grafting or cuttings, with the cultivar name 'Biflora' or 'Praecox'. The custom of sending a budded branch of the Glastonbury thorn to the Queen at Christmas was initiated by James Montague, Bishop of Bath and Wells during James I's reign, who sent a branch to Queen Anne, King James I's consort. Trees survive from earlier grafts to perpetuate the Glastonbury legend, among them two other Holy Thorns in the grounds of St John's Church in Glastonbury. The blossom sent to the Queen now comes from one of these.


title: Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport

text: The "Spearhead"-class expeditionary fast transport (EPF) is a United States Navy–led shipbuilding program to provide a high-speed, shallow draft vessel intended for rapid intra-theater transport of medium-sized cargo payloads. The EPFs can reach speeds of , and allow the rapid transit and deployment of conventional or special forces, equipment and supplies." The vessels are a part of Military Sealift Command's Sealift Program. The class was previously designated as "Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV)", and redesignated in September 2015.


text: The EPF is able to transport U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps company-sized units with their vehicles, or can be reconfigured to become a troop transport for an infantry battalion.


text: The EPF has a flight deck for helicopters and a load ramp that will allow vehicles to quickly drive on and off the ship. The ramp is suitable for the types of austere piers and quay walls common in developing countries. EPF has a shallow draft (under ).


text: The EPF is an aluminum twin-hull catamaran shell containing four diesel engines, rudimentary facilities for up to 40 crew members, and 312 airline-style passenger seats, with an expansive flight deck on the top. The rest of the vessel is a convertible mission bay that can be loaded to carry any cargo. Vehicles and cargo are loaded and unloaded by a ramp that can support up to 100 tons of weight. Although designed for a military crew of 46, the ships usually have a crew of 26. The passenger room contains reclining seats with overhead televisions and racks for weapons and equipment. Each vessel has 104 permanent berthing spaces. Without resupply, it can support 312 embarked personnel for four days, or 104 personnel for 14 days.


text: The EPF has a greater level of comfort for the crew than larger Navy ships. The stateroom-style berthing areas for the ship's crew have private features including toilet stalls, outlets, air conditioning, and thermostats. People being transported are less well catered for; they may be subjected to "hot racking"-style living arrangements of available berthing bunks if necessary. There is no ship's store in the typical Navy sense of the term, but the ship's captain may unlock the "slop chest" and sell ship's coins and other ship-specific paraphernalia on a case-by-case basis.


text: The ship is unstable in rough seas and at high speeds. At 10 knots in calm sea states the hull can roll up to four degrees to each side, while conventional ships would roll very little; this increases if the ship goes faster or in rougher conditions, raising the possibility of seasickness. To achieve its top speed the ship has to be traveling in waters not exceeding sea state 3 (waves up to high). At sea state 4 it can travel at up to 15 knots, at only 5 knots in sea state 5, and has to hold position in any higher sea state. This reflects the ship's purpose of operating close to shore rather than in "blue-water".


text: The U.S. 4th Fleet has expressed interest in using the EPF as a low-cost ship for performing drug interdiction missions around Central and South America. U.S. Southern Command is experiencing a shortage of Coast Guard cutters available to interdict drug runners due to ship age and budget cuts. In May 2013, HSV-2 Swift conducted a drug interdiction patrol, showing that an aluminum catamaran was capable of performing the role. An EPF is capable of embarking a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET).


text: The EPF has no weapons or defensive systems to fulfill combat missions, but the Navy is looking to expand its roles to include re-supplying special operations forces and conducting humanitarian assistance missions. Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert has suggested using the ships as a cheaper way to perform counter-piracy missions to free up blue-water combatants. Offensive armament and defensive measures against pirates would be handled by a security team on board, and an EPF's speed would also be a good defense against an attack by pirates.


text: After various tests to explore the EPF's suitability to perform different missions, the ship was found to perform its primary role of intra-theater transport effectively, but had extreme difficulty in carrying out other suggested missions. When performing at-sea transfers of equipment with a Mobile Landing Platform (MLP), the EPF ramp used for vehicle transfers could not effectively operate with it in open ocean sea states of 2–3, and was determined to only be able to work in calm sea states found in protected harbors, an unacceptable constraint for operational deployment; the Navy has been aware of the current ramp's limitations and is developing one for use in up to sea states 3–4. When deploying a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV), the EPF's stern-mounted crane could launch it in up to sea state 3 conditions, but support surface craft were needed to get divers into the underwater vehicle, which could only be launched in sea state 2.


text: The electronic systems for this class are provided by General Dynamics Mission Systems. The infrastructure integrates the ship's electronic systems including: computing environment, internal and external communications, electronic navigation, aviation and armament systems, remote surveillance system, plus the entertainment & training system. The same General Dynamics OPEN CI is used on the (also built by Austal USA).


text: Marine Corps General John M. Paxton, Jr. called the EPF "a very capable ship" for certain missions, but cites several deficiencies as a substitute amphibious assault ship, including inability to operate in difficult sea states, survivability in contested waters, lack of a well deck to launch amphibious vehicles, and lack of "splash capability" to drive vehicles off the ramp into the sea. The ship has been rejected as a platform on which to base MV-22 Ospreys due to its weight, and potential flight deck damage from engines during take-off and landing.


text: The USMC is investigating changes to the EPF ramp to enable the "splash capability" for placing Amphibious Combat Vehicles into the water near the shore. A single EPF could carry and deploy 20 to 30 ACVs.


text: Beginning with EPF-14, the ships will be designated as EPF Flight II, with increased health services capabilities while still maintaining most of the original mission of the ship. The Flight II variant is designed to bring enhanced medical capabilities at the request of Combatant Commanders, and allows patients to recover onboard rather than in a higher-level facility. They can respond faster, and to more places than the Navy's larger, slower and unarmed hospital ships. The EPF Flight II design includes upgrades to the medical facilities for resuscitation and surgery, enhanced support of V-22 flight operations, and enhanced launch and recovery of 11-meter rigid inflatable boats.


text: The EPF program combines the Army's Theater Support Vessel (TSV) program (dating from 2004) with the Navy and Marine Corps High Speed Connector (HSC) (requirement dating from 2004). The EPF program received Milestone A approval in May 2006. The Navy awarded Phase One preliminary design contracts in early 2008, and a detail design and construction contract in the 4th Quarter of FY08. The Navy's Program Executive Office, Ships will conduct acquisition for both the Army and Navy, but each service will fund its own ships. After delivery, each service will be responsible for manning, maintaining, and providing full lifecycle support for its vessels.


text: , the lead ship in the class, was launched in September 2011 and delivered to the Navy in early 2012. The Navy expected to purchase 23 EPF vessels over 30 years. On 2 May 2011, all Army JHSVs were transferred to the Navy. On 30 June 2011, Austal was awarded construction contracts for EPF-6 and EPF-7. On 27 February 2012, Austal was awarded construction contracts for EPF-8 and EPF-9. On 5 December 2012, the first ship in the class, USNS "Spearhead", was delivered to Military Sealift Command in Mobile, Alabama. On 10 December 2012, the Navy awarded its final option under its current contract, and ordered EPF-10. On 5 April 2013, the EPF program was added to the remit of the Littoral Combat Ship Council, so that the capabilities of both ship types could be considered together. In 2014, the USN considered outsourcing the management of the fleet, but concluded that the ships would continue to be manned by civil service mariners.


text: Funding for the construction of an eleventh EPF was appropriated by Congress in the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. The procurement of long-lead-time material and initial engineering support for the Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) 12 (formerly Joint High Speed Vessel 12) was announced on 5 May 2016 under the Naval Sea Systems Command's contracting activity (N00024-16-C-2217). On 16 September 2016, Austal was awarded a contract to design and construct EPF-11 and EPF-12. On 13 February 2018, Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer announced the name of T-EPF-12 as "Newport". Congress allocated money for a 13th Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) in the FY 2018 budget, and a 14th EPF in the FY 2019 budget. On 18 October 2018, the navy awarded Austal a $57.8 million order to fund the procurement of long lead-time materials, which included diesel engines, water jets and reduction gears, for the construction of the 13th EPF. On 3 December 2018, the navy awarded Austal a $40.4 million order to fund the procurement of long lead-time materials, which included diesel engines, water jets and reduction gears, for the construction of the 14th EPF.


text: On 26 March 2019, the Navy awarded Austal a $262 million contract for the design and construction of two additional Expeditionary Fast Transport Ships, EPF-13 and EPF-14. This follows the long lead-time materials contracts awarded in October the previous year, of $57.8M for EPF-13, and in December $40.4M for EPF-14. Construction of EPF-13 is scheduled to commence in late 2019, and EPF-14 is to follow in the middle of 2020. On 26 February 2021, the U.S. Navy awarded Austal a $235 million contract for the detailed design and construction of EPF-15. EPF-15 will include enhanced medical capability.


text: Austal USA secured a contract from the US Department of Defense to carry out the detailed design, procurement, production implementation, and demonstration of autonomous capability in EPF-13.


text: In June 2011, a fifty-ton module was damaged at the Austal shipyard in Mobile during the construction of USNS "Choctaw County".


text: During operations in 2015, the first ship of the class, , experienced bow damage from rough seas requiring more than a half-million dollars (USD) to repair. It was determined that a design change that Austal recommended to the Navy late in the design phase to save weight has resulted in a weakened bow structure. The first five ships in the class will require additional work done to improve the superstructure, at a cost of $350k-$1.2M each. The remaining ships which are still various stages of construction will require upgrading following construction as well.


text: In early 2014, Austal announced it had been awarded a $124.9 million contract for two High Speed Support Vessels (HSSV) for a foreign customer, later revealed to be the Royal Navy of Oman. The HSSV has a similar catamaran hull design as the EPF and supports naval operations including helicopter operations, rapid deployment of military personnel and cargo, and search and rescue missions. It is long and can travel at 35 knots. An HSSV has a crew of 69 personnel with 69 berths, can seat another 250, and has a cargo capacity of 320 tonnes (350 short tons). Both are to be delivered by 2016.


text: Austal launched the first HSSV, RNOV "Al Mubshir", on 31 October 2015 at its Henderson, Western Australia facility. it was delivered to Oman on 20 May 2016.


title: Gungrave

text: While the gameplay received moderate reviews, "Gungrave" received acclaim for the character designs provided by series creator Yasuhiro Nightow ("Trigun") and mechanical designs provided by Kōsuke Fujishima ("Oh My Goddess!" series, "You're Under Arrest" series, "Sakura Wars" series). Both artists' respective styles helped give the game a distinct feel, which (along with fan support) helped "Gungrave" translate from a video game to an anime series as well as a video game sequel for the PlayStation 2 entitled "" in 2004. Cinematics were provided by "Ikusabune Co., Ltd., which developed the sequel with Red Entertainment's supervision.


title: Gungrave

text: As a third-person shooter, "Gungrave" focuses on combat. The player advances through hallway-like stages, but has a free range of motion in these areas. The player confronts wave after wave of fighters en route to an end-level boss. Combat varies between gunplay with enemies at a distance and simple melee combat at close range, and the game rates the amount of flair the player uses to destroy everyone and everything in sight.


title: Gungrave

text: Players control Beyond the Grave, who is equipped with a damage-absorbing energy shield that can absorb a large amount of damage in addition to his life bar. This shield appears as a blue bar alongside Beyond the Grave's life bar in the game's heads-up display. When the shield is fully depleted, the player is highly vulnerable and further damage reduces the character's health level rapidly. However, the shield will recharge fully if no damage is sustained for a brief period of time.


title: Gungrave

text: By performing well during stages, the player can unlock special attacks such as machine guns or rockets launched from the coffin on Beyond the Grave's back. These can be used by charging the beat meter which is represented by a skull on the top left corner of the game's heads-up display. To build the beat meter, Beyond the Grave must perform combos sometimes numbering in hundreds of hits (destroying enemies or practically anything in the game environment). Strategy is required in setting up combos that are as long and devastating as possible, which helps to carry on the over-the-top action of the game.


title: Gungrave

text: Stages and some important events within stages are separated by anime cutscenes featuring art by Nightow. This is where the game's story takes place. Characters are expanded on and the player is given a back-story that is not obvious through gameplay alone.


title: Gungrave

text: The game takes place in an unknown city that is controlled by the Millennion organization. The city is overrun by crime and a mysterious drug known as seed. The story follows Grave as he sets out on a course for revenge against the man who killed him, his former best friend and colleague from Millenion, Harry Macdowell.


title: Gungrave

text: Stages in the game are presented as missions issued by Dr. T, and follow Grave as he hunts down the boss of that stage. Settings include a bar, a lab, the subway, and even a traditional Japanese dojo set atop a sky scraper. These environments are complemented or contrasted by the urban environment that surrounds them.


title: Gungrave

text: The game opens with the young girl dragging an oversized attaché case toward a warehouse with difficulty. "Bloody" Harry Macdowell has just carried out a coup against Big Daddy, the leader of the Millennion organization, and his daughter Mika needs to find someone that can protect her and stop Harry's mad plans. The occupants of this warehouse include a kindly looking old doctor, and a man with a notable scar on his face. Mika arrives, and the man with the scar claims the contents of the case: two massive handguns. That man is revealed to be the game's title character Grave, and now that he is armed he can start his mission.


title: Gungrave

text: Gungrave first approaches its stages as a series of missions issued by Dr. T, first to gather information on the current makeup of Millennion from a low-level street gang, and next destroying a research facility that creates Harry's undead soldiers. In the third stage, while attempting to pump information from an informant, Grave comes into contact with the leadership of the Millenion organization—once friends and allies that he now faces as enemies. Each have used the research Harry supported to give themselves inhuman powers. From here on, Grave is hounded by each member as he makes his way to Harry's tower at the heart of the city.


title: Gungrave

text: As the player progresses, the game uses anime cutscenes to reflect on the history of young Brandon and Harry, gradually bringing the pair's back story into focus. Close friends, the two had both become lieutenants in the Millennion organization, working directly under Big Daddy, the group's leader. Brandon shared a bond with Big Daddy and some flashbacks show the two sharing more of a father-son relationship. Brandon even let Big Daddy marry the woman he loved so that she could find a better life, but the two remained close. Not content with the power he had been given, Harry asked Brandon to help him kill Big Daddy so that he could take over. When Brandon refused, Harry shot his friend in the left eye, killing him. Fifteen years later, Harry carried out his coup. His actions as leader inspired Dr. T to revive Brandon who was the only person capable of stopping Harry. Dr. T's connection to all of this is not made clear, but he often makes comments that indicate some connection to Brandon's former life.


title: Gungrave

text: Grave picks apart the leadership of Millennion to make his way to Harry. At the top of the tower that Harry uses as a headquarters, it is revealed that Big Daddy still lives in the form of a twisted monster. Harry forces Grave to fight his creation, and following the final battle, Harry accepts his defeat graciously and allows his friend to kill him.


title: Gungrave

text: With Harry defeated, Mika's protection becomes Grave's only concern, and to keep his promise to Big Daddy of protecting the family, Grave protects Mika while they drive away from this tragedy.


title: Gungrave

text: The game was inspired by multiple action films, most notably those by John Woo. The gameplay was developed in order to be unique rather than a typical action game. Character designer Nightow was attending a convention in the United States and was approached by Red Entertainment during conception of the game which highly influenced their title.


title: Gungrave

text: In 2017, Korean developers Iggymob and Blueside, under the supervision of Red Entertainment, revived the "Gungrave" series and released "Gungrave VR" for the PlayStation VR in late 2017 in Japan and late 2018 in North America and Europe. "Gungrave VR" serves as a prologue to a new sequel titled, "Gungrave G.O.R.E" ("Gunslinger of REsurrection"), which was released on November 22, 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people generally have limited or highly restrictive rights in most parts of the Middle East, and are open to hostility in others. Sex between men is illegal in 9 of the 18 countries that make up the region. It is punishable by death in five of these 18 countries. The rights and freedoms of LGBT citizens are strongly influenced by the prevailing cultural traditions and religious mores of people living in the region – particularly Islam.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Male same-sex activity is illegal and punishable by imprisonment in Kuwait, Egypt, Oman and Syria. It is also punishable by death in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In Yemen and the Gaza Strip, the punishment might differ between death and imprisonment depending on the act committed.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Several Middle Eastern countries have received strong international criticism for persecuting homosexual and transgender people by sentencing them to death, life in prison, fines, torture, beatings, vigilante attacks, vigilante executions, honor killings, forced psychiatric treatments, forced anal examinations, forced hormone injections, chemical castration, floggings, and deportation.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Evidence of homosexuality in the Middle East can be traced back at least until the time of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. In ancient Assyria, sex crimes were punished identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual. An individual faced no punishment for penetrating someone of equal social class, a cult prostitute, or with someone whose gender roles were not considered solidly masculine. In an Akkadian tablet, the "Šumma ālu", it states, "If a man copulates with his equal from the rear, he becomes the leader among his peers and brothers". However, homosexual relationships with fellow soldiers, slaves, royal attendants, or those where a social better was submissive or penetrated, were treated as bad omens. A Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating from 1075 BC has a rather harsh law for homosexuality in the military, which reads: "If a man have intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a eunuch."


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Around 250 BC, during the Parthian Empire, the Zoroastrian text Vendidad was written. It contains provisions that are part of sexual code promoting procreative sexuality that is interpreted to prohibit same-sex intercourse as sinful. Ancient commentary on this passage suggests that those engaging in sodomy could be killed without permission from a high priest. However, a strong homosexual tradition in Iran is attested to by Greek historians from the 5th century onward, and so the prohibition apparently had little effect on Iranian attitudes or sexual behavior outside the ranks of devout Zoroastrians in rural eastern Iran.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their experiences in the Muslim world have been influenced by its religious, legal, social, political, and cultural history.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: The Quran narrates the story of the "people of Lot" destroyed by the wrath of Islamic God because the men engaged in lustful carnal acts between themselves. Within the Quran, it never states that homosexuality is punishable by death, and modern historians conclude that the Islamic prophet Muhammad never forbade homosexual relationships, although he shared contempt towards them alongside his contemporaries. However, some hadith collections condemn homosexual and transgender acts, prescribing death penalty for both the active and receptive partners who have engaged in male homosexual intercourse.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: There is little evidence of homosexual practice in Islamic societies for the first century and a half of the early history of Islam, although male homosexual relationships were known and ridiculed, but not sanctioned, in Arabia.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: During the medieval period and the early modern age, Middle Eastern societies saw a flourishing of homo-erotic literature. Shusha Guppy of the "Times Higher Education Supplement" argued that although it "has long been assumed that the Arab-Islamic societies have always been less tolerant of homosexuality than the West", in "the pre-modern era, Western travelers were amazed to find Islam 'a sex-positive religion' and men openly expressing their love for young boys in words and gestures."


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: During the Islamic Golden Age, the Abbasid dynasty is known for being relatively liberal regarding homosexuality. This is due to a variety of factors, notably the move towards a more bureaucratic Islamic rule and away from literalist adherence to the scripture.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Many Islamic rulers were known to engage in, or at least tolerate, homosexual activity. For instance, Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid II was said to enjoy ""al-talawut"", an Arabic word for sex with other men. Abu Nuwas, one of the most prominent Arab poets to extensively produce homoerotic works, did so under the tutelage and protection of Harun al-Rashid. Harun al-Rashid's successor, Al-Amin, rejected women and concubines, preferring eunuchs instead.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Homosexual acts are forbidden in traditional Islamic jurisprudence and are liable to different punishments, including the death penalty, depending on the situation and legal school. However, homosexual relationships were generally tolerated in pre-modern Islamic societies, and historical records suggest that these laws were invoked infrequently, mainly in cases of rape or other "exceptionally blatant infringement on public morals". Public attitudes toward homosexuality in the Muslim world underwent a marked negative change starting from the 19th century through the gradual spread of Islamic fundamentalist movements such as Salafism and Wahhabism, and the influence of the sexual notions and restrictive norms prevalent in Europe at the time: a number of Muslim-majority countries have retained criminal penalties for homosexual acts enacted under European colonial rule.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: In the 19th and early 20th century, homosexual activity was relatively common in the Middle East, owing in part to widespread sex segregation, which made heterosexual encounters outside marriage more difficult. Georg Klauda writes that "Countless writers and artists such as André Gide, Oscar Wilde, Edward M. Forster, and Jean Genet made pilgrimages in the 19th and 20th centuries from homophobic Europe to Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, and various other Arab countries, where homosexual sex was not only met without any discrimination or subcultural ghettoization whatsoever, but rather, additionally as a result of rigid segregation of the sexes, seemed to be available on every corner." Homosexuality was outlawed in 1943 in Lebanon, to conform to the rule of the Vichy regime of France. The law is known as article 543 in the country's Penal Code. In Iran, men could be intimate with other men without being in a formal relationship. Young men without facial hair were considered beautiful and older men would pursue them. It was not until the nineteenth century, when Europeans began to visit Iran, that the view of homosexual male relationships became negative. European men claimed the relations between Iranian men were immoral. This European perspective was widely adopted by Iranian society. This outlook on queerness within the Middle East has worsened as totalitarian governments, beginning in the 1970s, came to power and justified their values on Islamic fundamentalism.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Transgender people have also faced backlash in the Middle East in the late 1900s. There was fear that because one could not differentiate men and women based on their outer appearance, it would cause instability within society. Gender reaffirming surgeries were introduced and became accessible and prevalent among transgender women in Iran. In 1976, the Medical Council of Iran outlawed gender reassignment surgery after seeing the increase of procedures among transgender women. They have changed this ruling since then.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Before globalization, Middle Eastern men and women who had homosexual relations did not consider themselves to be 'homosexual'. Due to the exchanges between the West and Middle East, the idea of "homosexuality" was introduced to Middle Eastern regions and these people were then encouraged to associate themselves with new labels, such as "gay", "lesbian", "straight", and more. Before the use of these labels, people did not categorize their sexuality in that way.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: In Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, the laws state that if a person is found guilty of engaging in same-sex sexual behavior, the death penalty would be applied. According to Country Reports of the US Department of State, in Saudi Arabia there are no established LGBT organizations. Furthermore, reports of official and social discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation remains unclear because of strong social pressure of not to discuss LGBT matters. In Iraq, homosexuality is not "de jure" punishable by law but LGBT people can be charged under public indecency law 401. Which penalizes anything deemed contrary to public decency or morality with up to 6 months imprisonment and fines. People also face vigilante execution, beatings, torture, and attacks by vigilantes and Sharia courts.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Jordan and Bahrain are the only Arab countries where homosexuality is legal; Some Middle Eastern nations have some tolerance and legal protections for transsexual and transgender people. For example, the Iranian government has approved sex change operations under medical approval. The Syrian government has approved similar operations back in 2011. LGBT rights movements have existed in other Middle Eastern nations, including Turkey and Lebanon. However, in both Turkey and Lebanon, changes have been slow and recent crackdown on LGBT oriented events have raised concerns about the freedom of association and expression of LGBT people and organizations.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Israel is a notable exception, being the most supportive towards LGBT rights and recognizing unregistered cohabitation. Anti-occupation activists have labeled Israel's stance on LGBT rights as pinkwashing. Popular support for LGBT rights and the disparity between the liberal LGBT rights in Israel and Palestine render the motivation of these assertions dubitable, especially because of the very low popular support for LGBT rights in Palestine. Same-sex marriage is not legal in the country but there is public support for recognizing and registering same-sex marriages performed in other countries. Israel also allows transgender individuals to legally change their gender without surgery. Transgender individuals can serve openly in the Israel Defense Forces.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: There are different legal systems in Palestine. A report of Human Rights Watch in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity in the Middle East notes:


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: The British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance, No. 74 of 1936 is in force in Gaza. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Jordanian Penal Code of 1960 applies, and does not contain provisions prohibiting adult consensual same-sex conduct. In Gaza, having "unnatural intercourse" of a sexual nature, understood to include same-sex relationships, is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. In February 2016, Hamas’s armed wing executed one of its fighters ostensibly for "behavioral and moral violations," which Hamas officials acknowledged meant same-sex relations.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Meanwhile, popular support for LGBT-rights in Palestine is practically non-existent and LGBT persons are regularly endangered by mob violence.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Arab and Muslim views of homosexuality as a purely "Western" creation have been explored in the film "". The starting line of the dialogue spoken by an as yet unseen gay Egyptian man stating "I was accused of being Westernized."


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: In a few places, like Egypt and Morocco, sexual orientation and gender identity issues have begun to enter the agendas of some mainstream human rights movements. Now, unlike in earlier years, there are lawyers to defend people when they are arrested, and voices to speak up in the press. These vital developments were not won through identity politics. Those have misfired disastrously as a way of claiming rights in much of the Middle East; the urge of some western LGBT activists to unearth and foster ‘gay’ politics in the region is potentially deeply counterproductive. Rather, the mainstreaming was won largely by framing the situations of LGBT (or otherwise-identified) people in terms of the rights violations, and protections, that existing human rights movements understand. (Human Rights Watch 2009, p. 18)


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Although many Middle Eastern countries have penal codes against homosexual acts, these are seldom enforced due to the difficulty to prove unless caught in the act. In the Middle East today many countries still do not have codification of homosexuality or queerness as an identification of sexual orientation. In Saudi Arabia, gender segregation is practiced to uphold the purity of women, because this separation exists some women and men will openly seek homosexual companionship in open spaces like coffee shops, public bathrooms, their cars, and their households. To navigate their own sexuality many men who engage in homosexual acts in Saudi Arabia do not deem the acts to be homosexual unless they are a bottom, which is a sexual position deemed to be more feminine while a top is deemed to be masculine.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: In Iran there is a strict gender binary. The government enforces the gender binary by suppressing information about homosexuality and encouraging people questioning their sexuality to undergo sex reassignment surgery. Since the sex reassignment surgery is accepted by the government and religious institutions along with obtaining funding from the government for the surgery many Iranians who are attracted to the same sex see this as a way to be public about their sexual orientation without being persecuted by the government. Since being homosexual is not an option presented to Iranians, there has been a surge in the amount of Iranians who undergo gender reassignment surgery when their sexual orientation is towards the same sex. Sex reassignment surgery is encouraged by clerics, psychologists, and the government as homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, lashing or execution. This has led to a bolstering transgender community in Iran as homosexuality has been removed from society as an identity leading homosexuals and transsexuals to all seek gender reassignment surgery. The people who undergo these surgeries are fully accepted by the government but families still often reject family members who undergo sex reassignment surgery. Family members are a primary resource for job acquisition in Iran. Without a social network to call on for job leads it is increasingly difficult to find work, and transsexuals are discriminated against in the job market forcing them into sex work.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Qatar, however, has modified the LGBT laws in the wake of 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament. Homosexuality is a criminal offence in Qatar, and yet the Arab nation has given the clearest indication that the LGBT fans will be welcome in the biggest sports event. In May 2022, the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani stated “everyone is welcome” to attend the FIFA World Cup 2022 event in Qatar, including the LGBTQ fans.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: “We will not stop anybody from coming and enjoying the football. But I also want everybody to come and understand and enjoy our culture. We welcome everybody, but also we expect and we want people to respect our culture,” he said.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Qatar aims to host the FIFA World Cup tournament in a welcoming and safe manner with the football fans and LGBTQ+ fans. According to Numbeo Crime Index by Country 2022, out of 142 surveyed nations, Qatar has maintained its position as the 'Safest Country' in the world.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: The Ministry of Education in UAE approved a code of conduct that prohibits education professionals from discussing “gender identity, homosexuality or any other behavior deemed unacceptable to the UAE’s society” in their respective classes. A majority of education professionals working at the Emirati institutions are foreign nationals employed as English language teacher. The ruling could affect a majority of its recipients in the Gulf state. As far as homosexuals maintain a low profile in the UAE, they have remained safe from legal scrutiny.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Listed below are a few ally organizations that aim to help and support LGBT people in the Middle East. Other organizations with the same goal exist as well; however, these are the organizations that have made the most impact in the regions thus far.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Rainbow Street is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that is determined to help LGBT people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by providing support to those who experience systemic oppression and persecution due to their gender identity and/or sexual orientation. The organization aims to provide queer and trans people with the necessary resources needed to ensure they have access to safe, discrete and capable providers.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: OutRight is a NGO that promotes human rights of LGBT people around the world, including in the Middle East. The organization focuses more on Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, but also partners with other groups in the region in order to listen to local LGBT activists, and advocate on their behalf at the United Nations. The partnerships include organizations in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Kuwait, Oman and Lebanon. The organization works with these groups on "different topics through capacity building, advocacy, research and holistic security." The largest project that they have is in Iran which is focused on assistance to the LGBT community in Iran. In order to counter prejudiced views in the media, provide necessary legal and religious frameworks that promote tolerance and in an effort to make their research accessible OutRight Action International created a wide range of resources in Persian.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: OutRight has a significant program in the organization called LBQ Connect which aims provide for support for "lesbian, bisexual and queer activism around the world." Due to the marginalization of women who identify as queer, bisexual or lesbian as well as trans and nonbinary people, the organization centers these people in their framework in effort to provide support and resources. OutRight seeks to challange prejudice, violence and discrimination experienced by those who identify as LGBT throughout the world and providing these individuals with training and monetary resources to strengthen their skills and improve research. The research conducted influences changes in the LBQ program and overall advocacy agenda of the organization.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: Helem (Arabic: حلم) is a NGO based in Lebanon, established in the 2000s, that has the main goal of annulling article 534 in Lebanon's Penal Code which punishes "unnatural sexual intercourse", particularly sexual relations involve anal sex. The organization was the first of its kind within the Arab World. Helem is an acronym for Himaya Lubnaniya lil Mithliyeen wal Mithliyat, which translates to "Lebanese protection for gays and lesbians." The acronym itself means "dream". The Penal Code is most commonly used to target people that do not conform to society's gender binary system. Individuals who express gender non-conformity are punished not only through the Penal Code but also in the interest of maintaining public morality. Helem's other goals include making Lebanese society more aware about the AIDS epidemic and other sexually transmitted diseases in the country, and advocating for the rights of Lebanese LGBT individuals. Helem also allows allies to access membership to the organization. Although Helem was started to address the rights of the LGBT Community it has incorporated social work into the organization's mission. The organization advocates for marginalized communities throughout Lebanon and the Arab World. Helem seeks to "work not only on issues related to identity and civil/political rights, but also prioritize social and economic rights by leveraging law, development, and community mobilization as tools for equality and liberation.


title: LGBT rights in the Middle East

text: The focus on marginalized communities sparked outrage throughout Lebanon when Helem invited people who weren't of Lebanese nationality into the organization during the Cedar Revolution. Helem supports and advocates for domestic workers and refugees including those who have left their home countries in fear of discrimination due to their sexual orientation. In 2006, Helem joined Samidoun, to continue their work of advocating for refugees and those affected by war. Helem created an annual event called "international day against homophobia (IDAHO)" and the first event took place in May 2005. The organization has faced scrutiny and obstacles from the government and members of the community whilst trying to carry out their mission. A longstanding belief throughout the community is that HELEM is trying to impose Western imperialism and ideals in Lebanon and throughout the Arab World.