veiled4allah: finally, some good news on the hijab front

Via Peter in the comments, there's an update to a hijab case that I first posted about last October.

Nashala Hearn is a student at a public school in Oklahoma. She had been suspended from school for wearing the hijab. The school's policy banning headgear did not make an exemption for headgear worn for religious reasons. The school's ban would also prohibit Jewish students from wearing yarmulkes (a side note to those who defend hijab ban policies: are you also defending banning Jewish men from wearing yarmulkes? Do you think that your views would go over very well with Jews? If not, then you should understand why hijab bans don't go over very well with Muslims).

CNN reports today that the federal government's civil lawyers have intervened in Hearn's case by filing a motion in her favor. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Alex Acosta, wrote:

No student should be forced to choose between following her faith and enjoying the benefits of a public education... ...We certainly respect local school systems' authority to set dress standards, and otherwise regulate their students, but such rules cannot come at the cost of constitutional liberties... Religious discrimination has no place in American schools.

As I noted in my October entry, Hearn had been permitted to return to the school but the anti-headgear policy remains in force and the school has apparently told Hearn that she could be suspended again at any time for violation of the policy if they so choose. Hence, her lawsuit asking for the school to change its policy is still alive.

Here again is a link to an explanation by constitutional scholar and law professor Jack Balkin why the hijab ban is contrary to Oklahoma law.

Despite the title of my blog, I really don't intend this to be a site that's all about hijab, and about hijab bans. However, as long as people are trying to restrict the basic personal autonomy and freedom of expression of Muslim women - by limiting their freedom to dress as they choose - I will keep posting about it because to me such policies are wrong. I also think that they're misguided. They will only upset and offend Muslims and if the aim is to help Muslims integrate into Western society, these laws will only have the opposite effect. You will never get anyone to like you by limiting their rights. You just won't.