Over Seas » Sikh News

Fighting To End Discrimination by United States of America’s Largest Employer: Sikh Coalition

January 31, 2015 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau

Washington D.C.: One year after the House Armed Services Committee held its first hearing on the Department of Defense’s (DoD) updated religious accommodation guidelines, the Sikh Coalition and pro bono legal partner McDermott Will & Emery LLP sent a letter to the Pentagon, the DoD headquarters, outlining the plight of Taranbir Singh.

An update by the Sikh Coalition says Taranbir Singh has been subjected to nearly two years of bureaucratic hurdles and denied the right to serve in the U.S. Army because of his religion.

The Sikh Coalition reportedly sent a letter to DoD on January 29 detailing numerous examples of Taranbir Singh taking the mandated steps to meet the requirements for enlisting, points to the ongoing procedural flaws in the process, and confirms what we predicted last year – that the new guidelines allow the DoD (the nation’s largest employer) to continue discriminating against Sikhs who maintain their articles of faith. Although the DoD ended discrimination against gays and lesbians with the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2011, the U.S. military is still authorized to discriminate against Sikh Americans.

“We remain committed to fighting for clients like Taranbir Singh because no American should ever have to choose between their faith and their chosen career,” said the Sikh Coalition’s Executive Director, Sapreet Kaur. “Our military campaign is about equal opportunity, pure and simple. We must live in a country where a turbaned Sikh American can become a General, if that is their dream.”

The Sikh Coalition updates: [w]hile steady progress has been made to secure individualized accommodations for Sikhs to serve with turbans, unshorn hair and beards, and we have won the support of 105 Members of Congress, 15 U.S. Senators, and 20 national interfaith and civil rights organizations to stand with us in this fight, much more work remains to be done. The Department of Defense is the nation’s largest employer. If they discriminate, it gives other employers a green light to do the same.

The letter sent to the Pentagon comes three days after United States (US) President Barack Obama reaffirmed every person’s right to practice their faith free of discrimination during an international speech in New Delhi.

This marks the beginning of a series of new actions designed to apply growing pressure on the Pentagon to end these misguided policies.

Sikh Coalition has sought help of it’s supporters to get the Pentagon’s attention today to the issue. The NGO has urged people to get engaged in it’s campaign to fight to end discrimination by America’s largest employer.

Tweet

---

To Get Sikh Siyasat News Alerts via WhatsApp:

(1) Save Our WhatsApp Number 0091-855-606-7689 to your phone contacts; and
(2) Send us Your Name via WhatsApp. Click Here to Send WhatsApp Message Now.

Sikh Siyasat is on Telegram Now. Subscribe to our Telegram Channel

---

Related Topics: Sikhs in United States

Leave a Reply