Sikhs Say Military Ban is Religious Discrimination
According to recent articles in The Washington Post and on CNN.com, two U.S. Army recruits of Sikh faith have filed complaints with the Army and U.S. Department of Defense for religious discrimination over policies requiring them to cut their hair and beards and prohibiting them from wearing a dastaar, which is a turban worn as part of the Sikh religion. Captain Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, a doctor specializing in emergency medicine, and Second Lieutenant Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, were told that their hair and dastaars would not be a problem at the time they were enrolling in the Army’s Health Professional Scholarship Program, which pays for medical education in return for military service. However, they are now being told that to become eligible for active duty in the Army in July 2009, they must cut their hair and beards and remove their dastaars. They are both fighting against the military regulations because it is preventing them from serving their country as medical personnel for soldiers.
The miliary regulations implemented by the Department of Defense permit religious headgear to be worn only if it can be completely covered by the military headgear. Since other headgear is not allowed to be worn on top of the dastaar, Sikhs cannot abide by the regulations. The two Army recruits, who are represented by the Sikh Coalition, a New York-based national advocacy group for the Sikh community, are asking the military to respect their religion and to not make them cut their hair and beards and remove their dastaars because those are mandatory articles of faith according to their religion. If the two Army recruits are unsuccessful, they will be honorably discharged and required to pay back their medical and dental school loans.
