(CNN) “We had to make a very difficult decision between our love for our faith or our love for the sport.”
Simran Jeet Singh — Executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society program, which studies religion, racism and justice — recalls his own experience fighting for inclusion as a turbaned Sikh athlete.
Growing up in Texas, he says he and his brothers were often denied the right to play sports in school and college because of their turbans, a religious head covering worn by men of the Sikh faith.
He is one of the voices favorably welcoming the project of the American state of Maryland Law on inclusive sports clothingalso known as House Bill 515, which took effect July 1.
The law requires the Maryland Public Secondary School Athletic Association, governing bodies of public institutions of higher education, county boards of education, and community college boards to permit student-athletes to alter their athletic uniforms or team to make them conform to their religious or cultural requirements, or preferences for modesty.
Under the law, modifications to sports or team uniforms may include head coverings, undershirts or leggings worn for religious reasons.
Singh’s younger brother, Darsh Preet Singh, was the first turbaned Sikh American to play high-level NCAA college basketball.
House Bill 515 states that “any changes to the uniform or headgear must be black, white, the predominant color of the uniform, or the same color worn by all players on the team.”
Any modification to the uniform must not restrict the student-athlete’s movements or pose a safety risk to the student-athlete or others. The bill also states that uniform modifications must not “cover any part of the face unless necessary for the safety of the wearer.”
In a Press release released by the Maryland office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Director Zainab Chaudry said, “Our lawmakers have fundamentally leveled the playing field and improved the lives of thousands of children in our state.
She added: “Maryland Ranks Among Worst States in America when it comes to juvenile justice… This progress is long overdue, and we thank the bill’s sponsors and all lawmakers who voted on the right side of history on these measures.
Forced to choose between faith or sport
“I am so heartened to see that one state in the United States, Maryland, no longer bans people from playing the sports they love because of the way they look,” Singh said. CNN Sports.
“I think that’s what I really believe in sports. You’re supposed to bring people together, not divide them.”
Singh held true to this belief during his time as a student-athlete, where he and his brothers petitioned various sports governing bodies to allow them to play in religious attire, paving the way for greater inclusion.
Singh (pictured here in blue) runs across the Brooklyn Bridge with the Sikhs in the City running club.
To play high school football while wearing his turban, Singh said he petitioned the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and got a letter to carry from game to game saying he could maintain religious attire while playing.
“While it was helpful to me personally, it was essentially an exception to a discriminatory rule. But now we are at a point where we should just change the rule that is discriminatory,” Singh said.
“We shouldn’t put the onus on individuals, and especially children, to get permission to play and that’s a really important part of this Maryland rule.”
Requesting permission to play in religious clothing was the very obstacle faced by student athletes like Je’Nan Hayes.
In 2017, the Maryland student was kicked out of her basketball team’s first regional final because of her hijab, for which, she said, no one had previously invoked a rule stating that she needed a waiver signed by the state.
Noor Alexandria Abukaram had a similar experience. The Ohio high school athlete was disqualified from a district cross country meet in 2019 for wearing a hijab, which she later discovered violated uniform regulations since she did not had not previously obtained an exemption from wearing head coverings.
Abukaram’s experience fueled his campaign for legislative change. Earlier this year, the state of Ohio signed a law Senate Bill 181under which student-athletes will no longer be required to present an exemption to play sports in religious attire, following similar legislation passed in Illinois in 2021.
Last year, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Athletics Rules Committee added a new rule clarifying that students no longer need permission from state associations to wear religious head coverings in competition.
A NFHS Press Release states that in 2021, athletics was the eighth sport to “change rules related to religious and cultural backgrounds.”
Other high school sports in which athletes no longer need prior approval to wear religious head coverings are volleyball, basketball, football, field hockey, spirit and softball, according to the release of the NFHS.
In swimming and diving, competitors may wear full-body wetsuits for religious reasons without obtaining prior permission from state associations.
Singh cites other examples of progress beyond the world of high school sports. In 2014, world football’s governing body FIFA approved the wearing of religious headscarves on the field and, in 2017, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) changed its rules to allow players to wear an approved helmet.
Permission to play does not guarantee acceptance
Despite this, Singh says there is still a lot of progress to be made in the world.
“It’s great that Maryland is moving forward with this law. It’s huge,” he told CNN. “But I think it should be across the board in every state in the United States. I think it should be true in every country. I think it should be true in every governing body of sports.”
And for players wearing religious clothing, permission to play isn’t the only barrier to acceptance.
Singh recounts the backlash his younger brother Darsh Preet Singh faced after he made history as the first turbaned Sikh American to play high-level college basketball, governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Singh’s younger brother, Darsh Preet, faced widespread online harassment after the September 11 attacks because of his turban.
Critics have sought to tarnish this triumph through a series of online harassment aiming at Darsh. Images of him playing basketball with his turban sparked derogatory comments and were used to create racist memes on the Internet.
“There were anti-Muslim comments,” Simran Jeet Singh said of her brother’s harassment. “After the terrorist attacks of September 11, our appearances completely match the profile who the Americans thought were their enemies. »
The problem is not limited to the United States. The Singh brothers’ stories highlight the racism and xenophobia that fuels ongoing debates around the world regarding religious dress in sport.
Earlier this year, French lawmakers have proposed banning the hijab in competitive sports, threatening the inclusion of women from minorities, such as the French Muslim community.
In March, a The Indian High Court upheld the ban on the wearing of hijab or head covering in educational institutions in the state of Karnataka, following religious clashes and growing tensions between the country’s majority Hindu population and the country’s Muslim minority.
Singh says such conflict can only be resolved by having “collective humanity” sincerely recognize that just because there are legal prohibitions on religious clothing does not mean such rules are right or fair.
“I think people need to come back to the table and say, ‘Hey, these rules weren’t necessarily created for the society we live in today or to account for global diversity,'” he said. -he declares.
“This is about equality and inclusion and we still have a long way to go.”
