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Sikhs reject 'Gaping Hole' in
Oregon Discrimination Bill
WSN Network
WASHINGTON: The
Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act SB 76 , which was passed by
the Oregon legislature last May, contemplates greater religious
freedom for employees but exempts public schools from its coverage.
Now, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF),
the oldest Sikh American civil rights and advocacy organization in
the United States, has urged Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski to veto
a bill that effectively rubber-stamps a state law that forbids
public school teachers from wearing any form of religious clothing.
This is because
Oregon law forbids individuals from wearing “any religious dress
while engaged in the performance of duties as a teacher.”
Even if the bill
is signed into law, observant Sikh Americans would still be barred
from working as teachers in the public schools of
Oregon
because of their religiously-mandated dastaars, and observant Jews
and Muslims in the state would also be forced to choose between
religious freedom and a teaching career.
Rajdeep Singh
Jolly, SALDEF’s Director of Law and Policy, said, “On one hand, (the
Act) says that an employer can’t fire you because you wear a
religious headcovering; on the other hand, it effectively says that
the school board can fire you because you wear a kippah or a turban.
This isn’t workplace religious freedom; this is a farce, and it
reminds all of us just how precarious religious freedom really is,
even in 2009, and even in the United States.”
15
July 2009
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