A Marine artillery captain named Sukhbir Singh Toor has been on a mission over the previous 12 months to grow to be the primary Sikh within the US Marine Corps allowed to brazenly follow his faith whereas in uniform.
During that point he has received a string of victories towards the strict costume requirements of the Marine Corps, and he can now put on the beard, lengthy hair and turban required of a trustworthy Sikh whereas on obligation. But not too long ago, the Marine Corps dug in, refusing to permit him or every other Sikh to put on a beard on a fight deployment or throughout boot camp, saying that bears would hinder the corps’ means to operate and put lives in danger.
On Monday, Toor and three different Sikhs sued the Marine Corps within the US District Court for the District of Columbia, saying the corps’ refusal to grant a non secular waiver is bigoted and discriminatory, and violates the constitutional proper to free train of their faith.
“I just want to move on, so I can do my job,” Toor, 27, stated in an interview from his base in Twentynine Palms, California, earlier than the swimsuit was filed. “There is no reason I should have to sacrifice my faith in order to serve my country.”
Joining him within the lawsuit are three potential Marine recruits who’ve been informed they have to shave their beards and minimize their hair for boot camp, the place all Marines obtain primary coaching, and solely afterward would be capable to apply for a non secular exemption.
The lawsuit is emblematic of the bigger wrestle the tradition-bound army faces in attempting to draw personnel in an more and more various nation, whereas preserving practices that took root when its ranks have been nearly solely white, male and Christian.
At situation is the long-simmering stress between constitutional ensures of particular person rights and the army’s want to take care of an efficient combating drive that at occasions should impinge on these rights. The backwards and forwards over faith has been evolving since not less than 1981, when an Orthodox rabbi serving within the Air Force sued the service over the suitable to put on a skullcap. Current legislation requires that the army not limit particular person train of faith besides when a “compelling government interest” is at stake, and in these instances, to make use of the “least restrictive means” doable.
What counts as a compelling authorities curiosity, or because the least restrictive means, is on the middle of the case.
The Marine Corps declined to touch upon the lawsuit. In prior administrative choices regarding Sikh turbans and bears, Marine leaders have cited two pursuits it stated have been compelling. One is uniform look within the ranks, which the corps argues is essential to good order and self-discipline.
“Uniformity is greater than the mere outward expression of unity with the staff; it’s a device that continually reminds every Marine of the staff to which they’re dedicated and a sign to different Marines of the depth of that dedication,” the Marine Corps stated in response to Toor’s first request for an lodging in June. Tampering with that dedication, it warned, may value lives.
Second, the Marine Corps has stated, bears would possibly hinder Marines’ bodily means to do their duties by holding them from safely carrying gasoline masks.
That is why Toor and different Sikhs presently can not put on beards when deployed in any of 39 nations which are thought-about doubtlessly hostile, together with Algeria, Israel, Turkey, Uganda and Cuba.
Col. Kelly Frushour, a Marine spokeswoman, stated the dangers in international deployments may change quickly. “Accordingly, Marines in a combat zone must be prepared to don a gas mask at any time with little or no notice,” she stated.
In their swimsuit, the Sikhs counter that the Marine Corps routinely deploys males to fight zones who’ve permission to put on beards due to medical situations or as a result of they’re a part of Special Operations items. And the corps’ beard guidelines would require the Sikhs to shave even in nations the place the chance of chemical assault is so low that Marines deployed there usually are not outfitted with gasoline masks.
The Army made comparable security arguments towards a Sikh soldier in 2015, however relented in 2016 after the soldier sued. About 100 Sikhs presently serve within the Army and Air Force carrying full beards and turbans, and plenty of have been deployed to fight zones. In interviews, they’ve reported no points.
The US army now grants extra non secular exemptions to uniform and grooming requirements than ever earlier than, permitting hijabs for Muslim girls, lengthy hair for a small Christian sect, and bears for just a few training Norse Heathens. But the Marine Corps has for generations fought adjustments after different branches embraced them. It was the final service department to permit Black males to enlist, and it balked at a 2015 mandate to permit girls to serve in fight.
In the case of the Sikhs, the Marine Corps has dug in over extra than simply sensible concerns. It additionally says bears and turbans are a possible menace to a extra summary idea of unity.
The 13 weeks of boot camp are the crucible the place peculiar residents are become Marines, taking away almost all particular person identification — telephones, private garments, hair types and even the phrase “I”: Drill instructors drive recruits to seek advice from themselves solely as “ this recruit.”
“This transformative period sets the foundation for further service by breaking down individuality and training recruits to think of their team first,” the Marine Corps wrote in February when it denied an lodging for one of many potential Sikh recruits, Aekash Singh. “Uniformity is a key component of this process. Consequent, limiting exceptions during this transformative process constitutes the least restrictive means to further the government’s compelling interests.”
Singh and two different potential recruits, Jaskirat Singh and Milaap Singh Chahal, declined to be interviewed. In an announcement, they stated: “We remain ready to meet the high mental and physical standards of the Marine Corps because we want to serve our country alongside the best. We cannot, however, give up our right to our religious faith while doing so.”
In the swimsuit filed Monday, their attorneys argued that the Marine Corps routinely permits different recruits into boot camp who don’t match homogeneous look requirements. Women are allowed to maintain their lengthy hair throughout coaching, and the corps not too long ago loosened restrictions on tattoos, permitting recruits to have ink protecting all the things however their arms, head and neck.
The corps stated the change within the tattoo coverage was meant “to balance the individual desires of Marines with the need to maintain the disciplined appearance expected of our profession.” The Sikhs say of their lawsuit that “it is perverse to claim that respecting ‘the individual desires of Marines’ to have full-body tattoos is consistent with mission accomplishment, but that respecting Marines’ desires to be faithful to God is somehow risky.”
Giselle Klapper, a civil rights legal professional with an advocacy group, the Sikh Coalition, who is without doubt one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, stated that the coalition tried for greater than a 12 months to barter an answer with Marine Corps leaders, however that the corps had been unreceptive.
She predicted that her shoppers would prevail, as Sikhs have within the different service branches, however stated she was disillusioned that they needed to take the problem to court docket.
“We feel we have run out of other options,” she stated. “People’s lives have been placed on maintain. How lengthy have they got to attend?”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
