WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The Justice Department said Tuesday it will try to help a sixth-grade Muslim girl suing an Oklahoma school district that forbids her head scarf.
Many Muslim girls and women wear scarves as a religious sign of modesty.
A department complaint filed Tuesday in federal court said the student was twice suspended from the Benjamin Franklin Science Academy in Muskogee for refusing to take off her scarf, or hijab, after being told that it violated the school's dress code.
The code prohibits students from wearing hats, caps, bandanas or jacket hoods inside school buildings. The girl and her parents filed suit in October 2003. The Justice Department, in addition to its complaint, filed a motion to intervene in the private litigation.
The complaint alleges the school district violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which bars states from applying dress codes in an inconsistent and discriminatory manner.
France recently banned head scarves and other religious symbols from its public schools.
