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LadyEllen -> RE: A Peek at a the future Muslim world... (10/10/2006 10:59:11 AM)
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Here in the UK, it is quite legal for a business to refuse to serve LGBT people. Its a civil transaction, and the business owner can deal with whom he/she chooses without giving any reason for not serving someone other than the usual reasons someone might not be served. If pressed on the question as to whether service was refused because of someone's sexuality/gender, even then the law is disinterested. However, the same disinterested law is interested when someone is refused service on account of their ethnicity etc.
But I see your point entirely. There is a debate going on over here about Muslim women wearing the full head covering, which also covers their mouths, leaving only their eyes visible. It started out innocuously enough - Jack Straw (MP and ex Foreign Secretary) is Member of Parliament for a constituency with a large Muslim population, and he said that he would prefer women with those veils to remove them when they came to see him about problems they have etc. Not for any racist reason, merely because he found it a hindrance to communication, not being able to see their faces. He didnt and doesnt insist that they remove these veils, but he asks them to. The reaction was the usual so I wont go into it and its not particularly relevant to the point I want to make.
Also in the UK, all banks have a sign outside which says that motorcycle helmets and balaclavas etc - anything which hides the face basically, be removed if one wants to enter and receive service. Thats fair enough - its a security matter, as anyone entering a bank, with their face hidden could well have an ulterior motive to do so. Presumably, this must also apply to those Muslim women with the black veils? Otherwise, we are seeing definite negative discrimination against the rest of the population, because of positive discrimination in favour of their culture. After all, a biker might not want to remove his helmet - its a part of his culture and identity as much as the burkha is to the strict Muslim women.
In some ways, I hope banks do not require the veils to be removed. I cant wait for the first bunch of enterprising bank robbers to go in and rob the bank, dressed in a black burkha. Once outside, they remove them and get in the getaway car as normal looking males, and evade capture. If that thought has occurred to me, then you can bet that someone else who might act on it has too.
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