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Washington State Issues Revised Guidelines Allowing Turbans 03/13/2008 http://www.unitedsikhs.org/PressReleases/PRSRLS-13-03-2008-00.htm
Washington Department of Licensing originally issued Salwinder S. Atwal a license with the notation "Not Valid for Identification." After UNITED SIKHS intervened, the Department of Licensing issued a new license that was valid for identification.
In a letter addressed to UNITED SIKHS, Mykel Gable, Assistant Director of the Department of Licensing in Washington stated, "In researching Mr. Atwal's experience, we found the language in our employee procedure manual may have confused our staff. We are taking this opportunity to clarify the language in the employee manual to avoid a similar incident in the future." The newly issued amendments to the employee manual specify that headgear should be removed "unless worn daily for religious or medical reasons," and further clarified that religious garb cannot conceal facial features, such as the eyes, nose, or mouth. "We value the Governor's Office and Department of Licensing's cooperation in issuing clarifications and immediately implementing them state-wide to make sure that such types of discrimination do not occur in the future, against Sikhs or any others," said Harpreet Singh, Legal Director of UNITED SIKHS. "We are continuing to monitor discrimination regarding photograph identification nationwide and hope that other incidents are handled as professionally and efficiently as the State of Washington handled this one." UNITED SIKHS would like to thank Governor Gregoire and Lee Marchisio of the Governor's office for their cooperation, as well as the Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Washington's community activists Satwant and Gurcharan S. Dhaliwal, Jaswinder S. Pannu, President Harinderpal Singh Bains, ACLU of Washington, Hate Free Zone, Hardeep S. Rekhi, and Asian Pacific Islander Coalition for their assistance and efforts to resolve these cases. "I appreciate UNITED SIKHS taking such swift action in resolving this matter. I hope other Sikhs who face this issue will report it quickly so that they may receive a new license," stated Salwinder S. Atwal. Report your experiences, positive or negative, when applying for identification documents, so that we are able to present a complete picture of discriminatory practices against Sikhs to the appropriate authorities, at http://unitedsikhs.org/photoidreport/, or by telephone at 1-888-243-1690. As we continue to monitor discrimination nationwide, UNITED SIKHS urges all people to stand up for their constitutionally guaranteed rights, and urges the Sikh community to practice their faith freely and wear their turbans and articles of faith. Click here to read the complete letter from Mykel Gable, Assistant Director of the Department of Licensing in Washington. Click here to view the amendments to the manual. For an earlier press release on UNITED SIKHS' initiative to combat religious discrimination for photograph identification, please visit: http://www.unitedsikhs.org/PressReleases/PRSRLS-26-02-2008-00.htm. Note: Comments do not represent the views of SikhNet. Comments containing profanity, provocation or slandar will be removed by the moderators.
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