Muslim woman to challenge ban on veil in driver's license photo

drudgereport, CNN | June 28, 2000 | unkown

[WellsFargo94]

A judge ruled Thursday that a Muslim woman can pursue her legal fight to wear a veil for a driver's license photo, despite objections from the state that it jeopardizes public safety.

Judge Ted Coleman denied a state motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Sultaana Freeman, whose driver's license was revoked when she refused to replace her photograph with one showing her face unveiled.

Freeman, 34, is suing to get her license back with a photo that hides most of her face, except her eyes, behind a veil known as a niqab.

Freeman wears the veil for religious reasons.

When Freeman applied for a Florida license last year after moving from Illinois, she had no problems getting a license wearing the veil, said her attorney, Howard Marks. It was only after the September 11 attacks that the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles told her to replace the photo, he said.

Jason Vail, an assistant state attorney, argued that having a face visible in a driver's license photo is a matter of public safety since criminals are often identified through such pictures.

"It doesn't target religion," Vail said of the requirement. "It targets everyone."

[WellsFargo94]

Women shouldn't be driving anyway! ; )

[Freemeorkillme]

It figures I'm going for my photo license renewal today. Belaclava or no belaclava?

[Maceman]

I'm going to wear a Bill Clinton mask when I have my DL picture taken.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Ms Freeman without her niqab.

[Clara Lou]

This woman was a Christian minister 5 years ago-- evnagelical, I believe. I heard this on FOX news channel last night. She's just trying to be difficult.

[Slyfox]

My eyes! My eyes!

[guitfiddlist]

This is all about license to be a difficult b*tch.

[mattdono]

Exactly! I was going to say she was being an a$$hole, but being "difficult" may be a more cooth way to describe it.

[Utopia]

What is it with these egoists:

• "I'm an atheist, you have to treat me differently"
• "I wear a veil, you have to treat me differently"
• ...

Have they ever heard of the word: NO

[TomGuy]

from American Athiest website

MUSLIM WOMAN SUES OVER LICENSE PHOTO: POSSIBLE TEST OF STATE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT

Web Posted: February 2, 2002

A dispute over whether women of the Muslim faith should be compelled to lift their veils for drivers license photos is pitting religious superstition against Florida's recently-enacted Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Sultaana Freeman, a former Christian evangelical minister who converted to Islam, filed suit in Orange County, Florida this month when state officials demanded that she remove her "niqab," or religious head gear which provides only a narrow opening to see through, while sitting for her license photo. Motor vehicles officials in Illinois and Florida had allowed her to wear the garment in previous photos, but have raised the issue of security in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Her suit could be a test of Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which requires that government use a "compelling interest" test when dealing with religious practices, and burden believers or groups with "the least restrictive means."

American Atheists and a coalition of other legal and public policy organizations have opposed RFRA and similar legislation. Two years ago, federal lawmakers passed a scaled-down version of the measure known as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person's Act. Legislatures in nearly a dozen state, though, have passed wider versions of the measure, often under the label of RFRA or "Religious Freedom Act."

Freeman is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union [duh! my editorial comment], which supported the original federal RFRA. The organization has split over whether these laws protect legitimate freedoms, or constitute a violation of state-church separation.

Freeman told the Miami Herald, "I don't show my face to strangers or unrelated males."

According to the Florida chapter of the Washington, DC-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, three other Muslim women have also been refused drivers licenses because they insist on wearing the headdresses.

[DonQ]

This matter was already dealt with, with some Montana Freemen types, who claimed they had religious scruples about any sort of transaction with the govt authorities, including applying for a drivers license. The court pointed out that they had complete freedom to practice their religion and it was up to them to either comply with the drivers license requirement or not to drive on the public roads ... their choice.

Is this woman going to wear her veil while driving?? Is that safe? Would anyone here cash a check from a woman with a veil whose only ID also showed a face concealed by a veil?

[Marobe]

What in the hell is she doing out of the kitchen anyway ???
Where the hell is her Husband and why isn't he handling this ??? :)

[goldstategop]

Earth to Muslim women: this is America and women emphatically will wear neither a veil nor a burqa in public. If that offends you go back to where you came from and keeping having your men treat you like a possession.

[Far Right Of Left]

My God,it's Rosie O'Donuts evil twin sister! With a head that size, her veil must be a bed sheet...

[TomGuy]

Sultaana Freeman needs to spend about a year with the Taliban. Maybe then she'd have a greater appreciation of her current status in life's great Cosmos.

[A2J]

The court pointed out that they had complete freedom to practice their religion and it was up to them to either comply with the drivers license requirement or not to drive on the public roads ... their choice.

Precisely.

Driving is not a "right" but a privilege that the state gives you and one that may be denied for any reasonable cause that is uniformily applied.

[philosofy123]

This same stupid woman would defend Moslem men forbiding women to drive, travel, inherant properties equal to men!

[jlogajan]

Driving is not a "right" but a privilege that the state gives you

Ouch! Too many cultural conservatives are socialist/communists to the bone, I think.

No, the ability to travel is indeed a right. However, there are minium safety concerns that must naturally be addressed -- it is a matter of individual protection -- not some authority handed down from on high. The "state" is merely an agency in service to individual rights.

The question of photo-ID's and such should be viewed solely from an individual safety perspective (and there are good arguments for needing ID on these common high speed roadways.)

It's just that I can't stand to see anyone keep attributing to the state the power to "grant" us "priviledges." It gets thinking off to a bad start. That's the kind of crap they teach in public schools. Let's keep FR a "public school mentality" free zone.

[powderhorn]

Well, if she really wanted to stick to her strict muslim religous beliefs, she wouldn't have a driver's license in the first place.