Posted on 11/14/2011 7:19:42 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
When Shehlla Khan's husband became ill, it fell on her to take their three children to the pool. But for Khan, who is Muslim, the task was difficult.
The Columbia resident said she was concerned about people watching her swim in the conservative, cover-all dress required by Islamic dress codes, and thinking: "What's wrong? Why can't you take it off?"
So Khan, 39, brought the issue up with members of her Dar Al-Taqwa mosque in Ellicott City. The mosque, along with members of a faith-based county group, People Acting Together in Howard, met with the Columbia Association to create a twice-weekly, women-only swim time, a trial that is scheduled to be announced Tuesday.
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The Columbia Association, which operates 23 pools in Howard, will join other communities that have made similar accommodations to create a more welcoming atmosphere for Muslims and other female swimmers.
New York City's recreation and parks department offers a women-only swim time at the Metropolitan Recreation Center. Pools around Toronto and other cities have also offered similar options, according to news reports. And at a swimming pool in Seattle, Muslim woman have used brown paper to cover glass windows, providing privacy from the lobby.
Several private universities, including Harvard and George Washington, also have provided female-only swim times, with several hours a week set aside. But occasionally, such programs have run into opponents who suggest they unfairly cater to one group. At George Washington some complained, citing concerns over the program infringing on American liberties.
"It's a positive thing," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Not everyone has the same needs. It's just expanding the level of interaction with the local community and recognizing that people are different.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
She could try the Toronto YWCA where the little boys and girls can swim naked together...
wait until that world clashes with the GLBTwhatever world.
I’m thinking of going to Mecca to open up a women’s clothing boutique...the line...(borrowed from North Face)...No Face.
I could be RICH!
Dhimmi University
I want to take my cats swimming but they don’t have a cat only swim day. Can I whine and force them to change the rules just for me and my kitties? Whaaaaaa!!!!
I hope some man gets rich with a law suit...
This is nuts
If they dont want someone looking at them
STAY HOME !!!
or build your own private swimming pool !!!
Ah, the Shariah-compliant swim session! I wonder if the muslim woman would complain if somebody in a bikini joined in.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
The pools and gyms come for an extra fee, although it's discounted for those that live in Columbia zones. And there are areas inside Columbia that are not controlled by the association that dont have to pay.
The founder Rouse setup Columbia as groups of planned villages each with single family homes, town-homes, condos rental apartments and a town center stripmall. But the apartments in the older areas are taken over by Section 8 housing and it's not pretty.
Islam means submission, and those swimming pools that cater to this sixth century barbarism are SUBMITTING to Islam.
Muslims, leave this country if its conventions offend you. Adapt to this country, or leave. Cultures that insist this country adapt to them should be frozen out. Swim the way WE swim don't swim at all.
Convenient lap swim access is hard enough to get at swimming pools -- I speak from a few decades of experience. Now these clowns want to jam up that many more blocks of time, for pure vanity.
Swim the way WE swim, Muslims, or don't swim at all. Or build and operate your own damned pools.
Wow ... sound like a nightmarish place to live. Yikes.
Everyone knows if a conservative Christian group went to ask for special treatment because modesty forbids them doing something - the Gov’t would have laughed and told them to get stuffed.
Give them 2 hours.
3-5 am.
Post of the Day.
If you are inclined to think of Islam as a religion...any female participation in attending a public swimming pool would obviously be a forbidden act or “harem” as they would say, no matter how they were covered or sequestered.
So what would be the point of demanding special hours?
Welkome to Kolumbia.
Where our biggest watchword is “Diversity”!
Oh, wait, never mind.
“And there are areas inside Columbia that are not controlled by the association that dont have to pay.”
This is where I grew up. But they are NOT “Columbia”, per se - they were independent homes/developments before the behemoth/God of James Rouse came in and swallowed up the surrounding areas. I started life officially as Ellicott City but by 10yo I was Columbia postal code.
“The founder Rouse setup Columbia as groups of planned villages each with single family homes, town-homes, condos rental apartments and a town center stripmall. But the apartments in the older areas are taken over by Section 8 housing and it’s not pretty.”
(Actually it’s an honest-to-God mall, not a mere strip mall.)
James Rouse is treated as an absolute God - these people are WEIRD. I officially in every single way lived in Columbia for 3 years, and the local paper is always hailing Rouse, everything is being named for him, and people are constantly asking, “What would James Rouse do/think?”
They could do that. Seriously.
Our culture did it in the old days - and I’d say things were a sight better in behavior.
The main thing is to be even-handed. Women-only should be balanced with men-only.
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