High School Track Star Disqualified over Muslim Uniform

White Rain

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If the girl has worn it for three years I am having trouble understanding why it's all of a sudden a problem?


WASHINGTON — A high school track star has been disqualified from a meet because officials said the custom-made outfit she wears to conform to her Muslim faith violated competition rules.
Juashaunna Kelly, a senior at the District of Columbia's Theodore Roosevelt High School, has the fastest mile and two-mile times of any girls' runner in the city this winter. She was disqualified from Saturday's Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet.
Kelly was wearing the same uniform she has worn for the past three seasons while running for Theodore Roosevelt's cross-country and track teams. The custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard covers her head, arms, torso and legs. Over the unitard, she wears the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates.
more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,323288,00.html
 
I don't understand this if she's worn this for three years and now they say something.

Sounds like they don't want her to get recruited by a college.

I hope they can work it out. She deserves to run AND practice her religion too.

JMHO
fran
 
This is ridiculous! She has worn it for three years so why now? She has been wearing this all season and now it is a problem? Give me a break this unitard did not enhance her preformance in anyway. Was his problenm that it was not a single color? His decision may very well effect her ability to get into college. I smell a lawsuit!!!!
 
Some people will pull any excuse out of their @$$ to win.
 
Are these different officials than those she has performed for before?
personally I like the idea of her style of uniform.
 
what if someone was a wiccan and they insisted on wearing a black cloak and heavy silver pagan jewelry to sports practice?? could they insist on wearing it and would everyone come to their defense... especially if most of the world's terrorists were wiccan??
so who says this woman can't 'practice her religion' if she can't wear the muslim garb during sports games?? is the religion really all about clothes??? so.. you take the costume away,, and suddenly she's not a muslim anymore...??! it seems like a pretty shallow one to me then. aren't religions supposed to be more about beliefs and deeds, who you are, and the way you live your life?? ....not wearing a uniform?
 
what if someone was a wiccan and they insisted on wearing a black cloak and heavy silver pagan jewelry to sports practice?? could they insist on wearing it and would everyone come to their defense... especially if most of the world's terrorists were wiccan??
so who says this woman can't 'practice her religion' if she can't wear the muslim garb during sports games?? is the religion really all about clothes??? so.. you take the costume away,, and suddenly she's not a muslim anymore...??! it seems like a pretty shallow one to me then. aren't religions supposed to be more about beliefs and deeds, who you are, and the way you live your life?? ....not wearing a uniform?
so if they said my daughter had to swim nude it would be ok? after all if it was not for religion i would not have a problem if she was nude. if her outfit caused a problem it would be fine with me for them to tell her she can not race. anything long that could cause another runner to trip would be a problem. slogans that could distract other runners. flashing lights or bells no way. my daughter is allowed to wear her cross when she swims .if she has to deal with some pc judge who objects to her religion i would be offended.
 
especially if most of the world's terrorists were wiccan??
so who says this woman can't 'practice her religion' if she can't wear the muslim garb during sports games?? is the religion really all about clothes??? so.. you take the costume away,, and suddenly she's not a muslim anymore...??! it seems like a pretty shallow one to me then. aren't religions supposed to be more about beliefs and deeds, who you are, and the way you live your life?? ....not wearing a uniform?


Not sure what terrorist have to do with a sporting event or how a young girl dresses during a sporting event. Esp as it seems this girl lives in the states and goes to high school here.

The clothing IS a large part of practising their religion. Along with many other religions. Being modest is important for both genders.

It's not a costume, it's just clothing. A costume implies that it's just something they can take off or that it's fake or something.

Many Jews also dress modestly. Many Christians dress modestly.

I know women who wear special pants under skirts for exercising. I know women who dress themselves and their daughters in long sleeves all the time. All of them Christians. Many Jews, myself included, cover our heads based on religious beliefs in addition to wearing clothing that is considered modest.

My own daughters don't wear many clothing styles out there based on our religion. Certain height on the chest, no tight shirts, no hip huggers, no tight pants, no 'flashy' shirts ie no logos, no characters, no cute sayings, skirts are a certain length. Certainly no bikinis and no shorts that would show their butt cheeks if they bent over.

Do I think it infringes on someone elses rights to dress my daughters this way? Nope. Do I expect special treatment? Nope. But, if they allowed it once what's the big deal now? There are different levels of modesty just as there are different views on what others think are immodest. I personally think most girls dress very immodestly and won't allow it for my own daughters.

Re: being shallow by dressing a certain way. If following the tenants of my faith, which were laid out by G-d, the same G-d other faiths follow btw, makes me shallow then I suppose I am. I'm okay with that.
 
The clothing IS a large part of practising their religion. Along with many other religions. Being modest is important for both genders.

It's not a costume, it's just clothing. A costume implies that it's just something they can take off or that it's fake or something.

I'd like to see if she attended the same meet last year without trouble. If she did, there's a potential lawsuit right there.
 
I'd like to see if she attended the same meet last year without trouble. If she did, there's a potential lawsuit right there.

From the article:

Juashaunna Kelly has worn the same uniform for three years without any problems, including at last year's Montgomery Invitational. Rogers said officials must have missed the uniform last year.

"It wasn't a problem last year, and it's a problem this year? Make me understand why," Bowden said.
 
what if someone was a wiccan and they insisted on wearing a black cloak and heavy silver pagan jewelry to sports practice?? could they insist on wearing it and would everyone come to their defense... especially if most of the world's terrorists were wiccan??
so who says this woman can't 'practice her religion' if she can't wear the muslim garb during sports games?? is the religion really all about clothes??? so.. you take the costume away,, and suddenly she's not a muslim anymore...??! it seems like a pretty shallow one to me then. aren't religions supposed to be more about beliefs and deeds, who you are, and the way you live your life?? ....not wearing a uniform?

Hey look! It's reb, flashing her hatred and ignorance for all to see!
 
what if someone was a wiccan and they insisted on wearing a black cloak and heavy silver pagan jewelry to sports practice?? could they insist on wearing it and would everyone come to their defense... especially if most of the world's terrorists were wiccan??
so who says this woman can't 'practice her religion' if she can't wear the muslim garb during sports games?? is the religion really all about clothes??? so.. you take the costume away,, and suddenly she's not a muslim anymore...??! it seems like a pretty shallow one to me then. aren't religions supposed to be more about beliefs and deeds, who you are, and the way you live your life?? ....not wearing a uniform?

Hardly the same thing as a barely noticable unitard under the regular uniform. Many track and field athletes wear similar garb, and it's nothing that would distract or possibly injure another runner (a long cloak or jewelry would be flat out dangerous).

The ref asking my son to take off his religious medal during karate or a basketball game is the same. It is not offensive to me b/c it is for safety reasons and no one else is allowed to wear jewelry, regardless of its symbolism. However, if they made him remove the UnderArmor shirt he wears under his uniform to prevent chafing, I'd need a good reason. If he had worn it for years without anyone saying anything and all of the sudden when college scouts are around and this is the ONE event where athletes can qualify for certain things, then I'd be suspicious. Someone is playing dirty pool to get the best athlete disqualified.

And WTF does this have to do with terrorism?
 
I think too much emphasis is being placed on the reason why she is wearing that uniform (being of muslem faith). The organisation apparently has rules for the uniforms: a single-solid color and unadorned, except for a single school name or insignia no more than 2 1/4 inches. Her uniform is NOT a 'single-solid' color and they wanted her to put a plain white T-shirt over it to cover it up.
Unless I fail to see something here, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Since there is fuss, I'm sure I fail to see something though, lol. Either the organisation has gone slightly nuts, or the 'opposite team' is trying to make them look like bigots to cover up the fact that they themselves did not adhere to the rules. I need to know more about this before I can decide what to think.
 
This is a great article from the Post ... lots of additional info:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../01/16/AR2008011603574.html?hpid=sec-religion

DCIAA Executive Director Allen Chin, who was present at yesterday's meet, said: "She's been allowed to run in our meets for the past two years with that. It is a solid color; there's just one solid color on one arm and a different one on the other arm."

Kelly said she brought a long-sleeve white T-shirt yesterday (she didn't bring one last Saturday) in case meet officials demanded she change. She said she was told, however, that because her uniform matched Roosevelt's school colors, she could stay in her original uniform.
 
I think too much emphasis is being placed on the reason why she is wearing that uniform (being of muslem faith). The organisation apparently has rules for the uniforms: a single-solid color and unadorned, except for a single school name or insignia no more than 2 1/4 inches. Her uniform is NOT a 'single-solid' color and they wanted her to put a plain white T-shirt over it to cover it up.
Unless I fail to see something here, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Since there is fuss, I'm sure I fail to see something though, lol. Either the organisation has gone slightly nuts, or the 'opposite team' is trying to make them look like bigots to cover up the fact that they themselves did not adhere to the rules. I need to know more about this before I can decide what to think.

You know what's interesting from looking at the pictures, by their own definition NO ONE seemed to have "single-solid color and unadorned" uniform. The all had typical high school track uniforms featuring their school colors and logos.
 
I think too much emphasis is being placed on the reason why she is wearing that uniform (being of muslem faith). The organisation apparently has rules for the uniforms: a single-solid color and unadorned, except for a single school name or insignia no more than 2 1/4 inches. Her uniform is NOT a 'single-solid' color and they wanted her to put a plain white T-shirt over it to cover it up.
Unless I fail to see something here, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Since there is fuss, I'm sure I fail to see something though, lol. Either the organisation has gone slightly nuts, or the 'opposite team' is trying to make them look like bigots to cover up the fact that they themselves did not adhere to the rules. I need to know more about this before I can decide what to think.

I think the point is that they are coming up with all of these BS reasons.

1) They said she had to turn it inside out so no logos were showing...but she states there are no logos on it.

2) They say it has to be a single solid color, although from those photos you can see that no one else has been DQed for this violation. These look like official uniforms in some cases. I doubt the coach ordered uniforms that were in violation of the rules - the whole team would be DQed!

3) She has never been so much as warned about this before, although she's been wearing it for 3 years. Don't you think the timing is odd since this meet is so important for college scouting? And that she is currently ranked first?

4) When she complies by bringing the white tee shirt, they tell her not to bother. Her unitard is okay after all. Gee, that's interesting.

As I said, someone who is close to first is making a stink to win unfairly, IMHO. They need to train harder and get a life. Maybe if they spent more time training and less time focusing on other people they could win!
 
I think the point is that they are coming up with all of these BS reasons.

1) They said she had to turn it inside out so no logos were showing...but she states there are no logos on it.

2) They say it has to be a single solid color, although from those photos you can see that no one else has been DQed for this violation. These look like official uniforms in some cases. I doubt the coach ordered uniforms that were in violation of the rules - the whole team would be DQed!

3) She has never been so much as warned about this before, although she's been wearing it for 3 years. Don't you think the timing is odd since this meet is so important for college scouting? And that she is currently ranked first?

4) When she complies by bringing the white tee shirt, they tell her not to bother. Her unitard is okay after all. Gee, that's interesting.

As I said, someone who is close to first is making a stink to win unfairly, IMHO. They need to train harder and get a life. Maybe if they spent more time training and less time focusing on other people they could win!

Good post. I hope justice is served here. It makes me sick to think that people could get away with this.
 

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