American Muslim Women Are Fighting For The Freedom To Swim

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

It was the summer of 2017 when Ruhee Kapadia, a Muslim mother from Long Island, New York, took her 13-year-old daughter to their local pool. School was out, and her daughter was excited to finally enjoy the long-awaited summer break in the water.
But staff at the Echo Park Pool said Kapadia’s daughter wasn’t allowed to swim, citing her clothing. Her daughter was wearing a bathing suit layered with leggings and a T-shirt, which staff said wasn’t appropriate swimwear. When the 39-year-old mother tried to reason with the pool staff, they told her it was out of their hands and to take up her concerns with local West Hempstead officials.

To read more:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/muslim-women-burkini-pool_n_5d279c95e4b0bd7d1e199769

[Ron Obvious]

1. They _have_ the freedom to swim.

They just want an exemption to the clothing restrictions that apply to everyone equally.

[guillaumeb]

3. The restrictions are targeted against Muslim women.

And these types of restrictions are generally seen as such by the courts.

[Ron Obvious]

5. Nonsense. These rules are in effect in every pool I've ever swum in for decades

There's nothing about them to single out Muslims or to target them for discrimination.

[guillaumeb]

7. You have the right to that opinion. eom

[Igel]

14. I've seen people kicked out of this kind of facility.

For wearing shorts or t-shirts. These were non-immigrant, not obviously Muslim people, both adults and children, and mostly sporting all the secondary sex characteristics of maleness (or, if pre-pubescent, showing traditional male-child behavior or clothing).

I've had staff, when I was wearing a t-shirt and cutoffs (because I didn't have a bathing suit) warn me when I was just sitting there, legs dangling in the water, warn me "no bathing suit, no swimming." And they didn't mean swimming in the buff, either. I'm neither immigrant nor Muslim. Nor female.

The claim has been that bathing suits don't produce lint or perhaps just not as much. Lint, they said (in a few different places) clogs their filtration system. Since it was a few different, unconnected places, I figure either it's a common myth or just possibly the truth and accurate.

So there's anecdotal evidence for the possibility that the other opinion is right.

[guillaumeb]

18. Many things can interfere with filtration systems.

And the same type of rules are also found at public beaches and lakes. All of this anecdotal evidence leads to one conclusion, in my view.

[Act_of_Reparation]

43. The wrong conclusion, it would seem.

Department of Parks and Recreation Guidance Regarding Swim Attire Requirements for Public Pools

[AtheistCrusader]

47. In the US?

I don't think so.

[trotsky]

10. Gotta make it about religious persecution though.

Just don't ask why many Muslim women feel obligated to cover themselves in public at all times.

And DEFINITELY don't bring up the many Muslim women who claim that the dress rules are ridiculous and sexist to begin with and we shouldn't be deferring to the fundamentalist religious leaders who enforce them.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Bingo n/t

[guillaumeb]

12. Given that these rules specifically target religious dress,

yes, one might be justified in suspecting that this is designed to target religions.

[edhopper]

16. Except they're not

they target street clothes. I have been asked to leave pools when wearing a T-Shirt.
I now own a proper swim shirt.

But you love to exchange opinions for facts.

[guillaumeb]

20. You gave your opinion.

A burkini is a swimsuit.

[edhopper]

22. It clearly states they were wearing t-shirts.

from your article:

Her daughter was wearing a bathing suit layered with leggings and a T-shirt,

not my opinion.

[JenniferJuniper]

26. T shirts are off limits for all

at most public pools. They say the fibers clog the filters.

Not everything is persecution.

[AncientGeezer]

27. It wasn't a burkini

[AtheistCrusader]

46. The article doesn't say they were banned from wearing that.

You really should read the article you posted.

[trotsky]

38. They don't. That is just your (erroneous) opinion.

Keep trying to force this to fit your agenda, though.

The rest of us will read the entire article and understand your desperate spin for what it is.

[Mariana]

50. The rules against wearing street clothes in pools

have been around as long as I can remember. Gil wants to believe religious people are being persecuted, though, so that explains his novel interpretation.

[demigoddess]

9. the clothing restrictions are unnecessary and stupid.

[guillaumeb]

13. The same argument could be made about top coverings for wqmen.

Agreed?

[demigoddess]

37. has been made in the past but society was not able to face the prospect.

[guillaumeb]

42. True.

Fear of women?

[AJT]

2. The clothing rules are very common. I am guessing she'll

be able to have her daughter swim after she goes through the proper channels.

[guillaumeb]

4. Yes, they are unfortunately quite common.

Islamophobia is also, unfortunately, quite common even in liberal democracies.

[Ron Obvious]

6. The more you use that word, the less meaning and power it will have.

It's a nonsense word anyway, but particularly in cases like this.

[guillaumeb]

8. What is nonsensical is denying the obvious.

But again, we will disagree.

[edhopper]

17. It's a no Street Clothes rule

as has been explained to you. Why do you refuse to accept facts?

[guillaumeb]

19. Burkinis are designed to be swim wear.

That is a fact.

[AncientGeezer]

28. Your article says it wasn't a burkini..

"..wearing a bathing suit layered with leggings and a T-shirt,..."

[guillaumeb]

30. The article is not limited to that one incident. eom

[AncientGeezer]

33. Perhaps in the Huffpo article you missed the sign picture...

That says burkinis...but not tee shirts which was the attire worn in your OP
?cache=yizde3vmob&ops=scalefit_720_noupscale

[guillaumeb]

34. If you read the entire article,

you read this:

Over the last decade, Muslim women across the globe have been subject to an increasing amount of harassment when swimming while wearing less-than-revealing swim attire. Just last week in France, where the burkini is banned in several cities, Muslim women staged a protest defying the prohibitions. Although no such bans exist in the United States, Muslim women across the country say they are criticized or denied admittance to their local pools because of their modest swimwear.

And that is the point of the entire article.

[AncientGeezer]

36. I read the entire article....your C&P adresses a specific event..with a teeshirt

[trotsky]

39. He doesn't care.

He's got an agenda, and the facts be damned.

[AncientGeezer]

40. Not my 1st dealings w/him-her....

[AtheistCrusader]

45. "no such bans exist in the United States"

[trotsky]

53. He can't even help it.

He posts an exact quote that contradicts his spin.

Another trainwreck for Engineer Gil.

[emmaverybo]

51. Your example has nothing to do with some French cities banning burkini's. Actually, Paris bans all

conspicuous religious symbols worn in public schools as they proclaim themselves a secular society. They also criminalize anti-Semitic speech. So? What’s your point? We ban toplessness at most beaches. The French do not.

You are trying to tie everything in with your agenda without recognizing nuance. But your example is not apt in any case as what the daughter was wearing was not a burkini and violated a safety and health code having nothing to do with religion.

[AtheistCrusader]

55. You demonstrate the ability to read, yet you don't seem to realize she wasn't wearing a burkini.

Re-read your article very carefully. She was wearing a swimsuit with a t-shirt and leggings. This is not a burkini. This is a swimsuit with street clothes. Street clothes are not allowed.

Why do you not seem to be able to grasp this?

Muslim women are not 'fighting for the right to swim' in the United States. The article is highly deceptive.

[Voltaire2]

15. Ruhee Kapadia should stop abusing her daughter and let her live a normal life.

[guillaumeb]

21. Perhaps you should stop imposing your own values.

Or not, as you prefer.

[Voltaire2]

23. I'm not imposing anything.

[edhopper]

24. How do you feel about female mutilation

or beating women who are out without a male relative.

You okay with those values too?

[guillaumeb]

25. My suggestion is to start another post.

[edhopper]

29. OMG!

You can't even condemn those acts.

This is really sad.

It's like a Republican squirming to not call Trump a racist.

[guillaumeb]

31. No, I will not participate in an unrelated question.

One which has nothing to do with the actual post.

[edhopper]

41. So discussions of the religious reasons behind

why they must cover their whole body are not allowed either.
Only your agenda is allowed.

Got it, no discussion, only agreement with your opinion.

Next.

[AncientGeezer]

35. The silence(avoidance) is deafening.

[AtheistCrusader]

44. They didn't want her to drown.

There's plenty of full-body-covering modesty ACTUAL SWIMWEAR without waterlogging your kid with a cotton T-Shirt and leggings. There was a valid objection, life-safety-wise IN THAT CASE as described.

There should not have been a policy against it, however, and the top laws in the nation protect an individual's right to expression of their religion, including modesty, so the headline is a bit of an exaggeration. There is no 'fight' in probably 99% of the country, and anywhere it IS a fight, call the ACLU and lodge a lawsuit and you're guaranteed a win.

[guillaumeb]

48. A very convincing argument.

Very well said.

But the fight is not just in the US.

[mr_lebowski]

52. The religion I follow, under the Lord Triton, requires I enter earth's holy waters totally nude ...

And that within 5 minutes, all male followers must float on their back, facing the sky, and proceed to flog the dolphin, to completion, to celebrate the Life-Giving Rays of the Holy Sky Sphere!

No, really. It's part of my sky-daddy's Commandments. He Told Me So!

And I demand that everyone else respect my Religion, and allow me to publicly engage in my required rituals, otherwise I'm being horribly repressed by The Evil Ones ... and those who do so shall all be banished to an eternity in cold, murky Atlantis!

[guillaumeb]

54. And you should follow that religion.

Do you also worship in this manner in the colder months?

[Voltaire2]

56. This is Great!

Once again the OP failed to either read or comprehend the article he posted. How many times is this now? At least the op is consistent.

[guillaumeb]

57. Once again, a very few posters insist on arguing with a straw opponent.

And that is consistent in this Group for that very small number of posters.

[Voltaire2]

59. Straw has more substance.

[Major Nikon]

58. Content and substance are irrelevant

What really matters is posting “counterpoint” to news about priests raping children.

[trotsky]

60. Consistent indeed.

Consistently humiliating himself.

[Act_of_Reparation]

61. It has already been noted:

Parks & Rec typically prohibits street clothes, like leggings, from use in public pools because the materials used in their manufacture are too absorbent or break down in pool water, and thus pose a risk to public property, others, and the would-be swimmers themselves. These rules and regulations have secular purpose, do not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion, and do not constitute excessive governmental entanglement with religion.

You should probably address that.

[AtheistCrusader]

62. Still not going to walk this trash, false-correlation travesty of journalism article back, huh?

If I'd posted something this bad, I'd have apologized long ago.