Muslim, Jewish and interfaith groups, as well as U.S. veterans, are rallying behind three prospective Sikh recruits who earlier this year sued the United States Marine Corps in their push to attend training while maintaining their turbans and beards.
Sikhs who serve in the Marine Corps can keep their beards and unshorn hair — which are articles of their faith — under a turban while on duty, according to the service’s grooming regulations, but are forbidden from doing so during combat deployment and in the course of recruit trainings.
Jaskirat Singh, Aekash Singh and Milaap Singh Chahal sued the Marine Corps in April in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming the Corps is violating their First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion by refusing to grant them a full religious exemption.
Source: Veterans, Muslim and Jewish groups file support for Sikh recruits suing Marine Corps