In an effort to slap Muslim girls at Stuyvesant High School, the school cancels single-sex swimming lessons, even though swimming lessons are required for graduation. This forces the girls to choose between remaining modest and getting a diploma.
Count on Muslim families to fight and probably win. Across the country, Muslims are taking up the fight in schools to protect conventional religious values, including modesty.
Move over, Roman Catholics, evangelical Christians and conservative Jews. Reinforcements have arrived and are turning the situation around.
Even in the Ivy League. After weeks of protests by Muslim female students, Yale University is changing its campus housing policy for the coming academic year to offer single-sex dorms and bathrooms.
From Michigan to Virginia, Muslim parents are showing up at local school board meetings to oppose graphic sex education and gender fluidity indoctrination. Their involvement influences policy. More and more Muslims are voting for Republicans, stating that the Democratic Party tramples on Islamist values.
In Dearborn, Michigan, left-leaning Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib spoke out against Muslim parents in her district who were protesting sexually explicit material at school.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to shift toward the far left. President Joe Biden’s Department of Education announced two-pronged rule changes last week: one favoring transgender athletes in K-12 schools and the other rescinding the department’s Trump-era commitment to protect religious clubs and societies on college campuses. In one week, pass the bird to believers twice.
The Democratic Party rejects conventional values.
Sexual modesty is a core value in Islam. Muslims observe dress codes and avoid physical contact between the sexes once students reach puberty.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects an employee’s right to practice religion in the workplace, but there is no comparable statutory protection for students. Muslims are fighting the battle one campus demonstration and school board meeting at a time, often winning.
Muslims are powerful at Yale. In 2021, students elected a Muslim woman as student body president. On March 10, Yale agreed to demands from the Muslim Student Association, Orthodox Jews at Yale, and other religious groups to provide single-sex housing on campus. Muslim female students protested that while men were in the bathroom, they could not even remove their hijab.
Modesty is also an issue at Stuyvesant High School. Brian Moran, assistant director of physical education, told the student newspaper that single-sex swimming classes for girls conflicted with other scheduling priorities. He made it sound as if a basic schedule inconvenience was enough to justify a change, and made the girls wear full-body burkini. Sorry, but these still stick to your body when moist.
The New York City Board of Education website promises transgender students “alternative solutions” for anyone who “needs or desires greater privacy.” Why should Muslim students get less? One in 10 students in the city’s school system is Muslim.
Last September, Muslim women at Syracuse University fought a battle for swim time without men at the university’s swimming pool and won a concession that will take effect next fall.
In Utah, the Muslim Citizens League worked with the Sikh and Jewish communities to pass a state law in February allowing school athletes to wear turbans, hijabs, and modest pants and blouses in competition in lieu of regular uniforms.
Luna Banuri, executive director of the league, said: “All faiths are guided by standards of modesty. We believe this has an impact on many communities.” Maryland and Illinois recently passed similar legislation.
In Bethel, Ohio, a coalition of Muslim and Christian parents is filing a lawsuit to preserve same-sex bathrooms and locker rooms and to stop a rule change that would allow biological boys to apply girls’ bathrooms.
Most Muslims still vote Democrat, but a change is beginning. According to the Wall Street Journal’s 2022 midterm exit poll, 28% voted Republican, a double-digit boost from the 2018 midterms.
Republicans are gaining ground as more Muslims come to the conclusion that the Democratic Party shows no respect for Islamic values.
Tell educators to respect families with faith-based values rather than avoid them.
