The Marines’ policy to be clean-shaven with short hair does not promote diversity and inclusion in the Defense Department contrary to the stated goals of the US and the Pentagon, a federal appeals court has said ruling in favor of Sikh recruits’ complaint.
In a historic move forward, the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, ruled on Friday that, US Marine recruits who identify as Sikhs can now keep their beards and long hair and wear turbans when they train at boot camp.
The District of Columbia’s federal appeals court’s judges cited in their decision the Apresent Corps’ boot camp rule of cutting hair and shaving beards as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Per the written opinion of DC Circuit Court Judge Patricia Millett, denying Sikh recruits the ability to maintain their religious requirements places a substantial burden on the exercise of their faith.
Judge Millett noted that the Marine Corps had never explained why they can’t apply the same or similar (religious) accommodations already provided by the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and Coast Guard.
The three Sikh Marine Corps recruits – Aekash Singh, Jaskirat Singh, and Milaap Singh Chahal – who filed an emergency appeal in the District of Columbia’s federal court to get an immediate exemption to the Corps’ boot camp rule that previously denied them religious accommodations, can now enter basic training.
A faith with more than 25 million followers worldwide, Sikhism forbids the shaving of facial hair and the cutting of head hair which prevented the three Sikh recruits from enlisting in a 13-week training at a US Marines boot camp in which recruits must be well-groomed.
They attempted to get a waiver that would allow them to keep their beards and hair and to wear turbans and other items associated with their faith when they sought to enlist with the Marines in 2021 but were denied based on the Marine’s goal to break down a recruit’s individuality and on their opinion that it would ultimately threaten national security by disrupting troop uniformity and appearance among the recruits.
They were told they would only be granted the waiver requests after boot camp.
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