New York, USA - The U.S. Coast Guard has abandoned a rule requiring anyone seeking a merchant marine license to submit photographs showing no religious head coverings, civil rights lawyers said Wednesday.
The lawyers, from the New York Civil Liberties Union, sued the Coast Guard in federal court in Manhattan on March 28 on behalf of Khalid Hakim, a devout Muslim who has served in the merchant marine while working for private shipping companies since 1973. Workers like Hakim are not members of the military but are required to obtain licenses to work on commercial ships that transport cargo in U.S. waters.
Before Sept. 11, 2001, Hakim regularly received licenses after submitting photographs in which he wore his religious knitted hat, called a kufi, the lawsuit said. After Sept. 11, though, the Coast Guard said he would have to remove it to get a license, it added.
The NYCLU said that on Monday, just before an initial conference in the case with the judge, the Coast Guard directed field offices to accommodate religious beliefs and permit the use of photos with head coverings so long as the applicants can be identified.
The NYCLU said it welcomed the change of policy.
"Muslims, like anyone else, should be able to obtain government licenses without sacrificing their religious beliefs," NYCLU associate legal director Christopher Dunn said.
But Dunn said the lawsuit would proceed until the NYCLU was satisfied that the change in policy was permanent.
A Coast Guard spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.