Tulsa World: Anti-scarf bill draws concern

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Anti-scarf bill draws concern

Rep. Rex Duncan

By MICHAEL McNUTT The Oklahoman NewsOK.com
Published: 3/5/2009 8:32 PM
Last Modified: 3/5/2009 8:32 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY — A national organization is asking the state Senate to defeat a bill that would prohibit Oklahomans from wearing head scarves or other coverings in driver’s license photographs. Another group says it will challenge the bill’s constitutionality.

“It is a matter of grave concern not only to the Sikh-American community, but also for members of other faiths who are required by their respective religions to wear religious head coverings,” said Raj-deep Singh Jolly, the legal director for the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, an organization based in Washington, D.C.

“The motives behind this legislation appear to be suspect.”

Rep. Rex Duncan said a person’s religious beliefs have nothing to do with his proposal.

He said he wants uniform regulations for driver’s license photographs.

“It would just be equal treatment for everybody,” the Sand Springs Republican said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a cowboy and take off your cowboy hat; a nun. No glasses, no Harley-Davidson bandanas, nothing on your head, no masks, nothing.”

The House voted last month to pass Duncan’s proposal, which is included in House Bill 1645. The vote was 88-8.

Jolly said, “It appears as though it didn’t even occur to them that this legislation would impact members of diverse religions — observant Sikhs who wear turbans, observant Jews who wear kippahs.

“Fundamentally we just reject this piece of legislation. It’s illegal and it’s un-American.”

HB 1645 has an uncertain fate in the Senate because its Senate author, Sen. Roger Ballenger, said Thursday that he no longer will handle the bill, which started out as a measure with clean-up language requested by the Department of Public Safety.

“In talking with DPS, they didn’t request the amendment and they do not have a problem with the present law on facial identification on driver’s license photographs,” said Ballenger, D-Okmulgee.

“It appears to be a solution looking for a problem.”

Duncan said he wrote his proposal after a Muslim woman was allowed last month to wear her traditional head scarf, which is called a hijab, when she was photographed for her driver’s license.

She was told several months earlier that she couldn’t wear the scarf.

The Oklahoma City chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations intervened, and the Department of Public Safety said a head covering is permitted when taking the driver’s license photo as long as it does not obstruct or obscure a frontal view of the face from hairline to chin.

CAIR’s national organization said this week that it was asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to determine whether the Oklahoma bill would violate the Constitution. Duncan said he wrote his proposal because no state law defines what is permissible for driver’s license photos.

In 2007, Duncan refused to accept a Quran that was given to legislators by the Governor’s Ethnic American Advisory Council because he said the book encourages Muslims to kill those who do not believe in Islam.

His proposal in HB 1645 has nothing to do with religion, he said.

By MICHAEL McNUTT The Oklahoman NewsOK.com

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Anti-scarf bill draws concern," which was published on 3/6/2009. So far, 45 comments have been made.