[Batgirl]

^ FS you hit it right on the head!

Leaving aside the Muslim issue for a minute, the real damage to come out of this ruling is that the Appeal court has effectively ended the current right of each school to determine its own policy on school uniforms. There is a real concern that as a result of this ruling we are now going to experience a flood of similar cases launched by other ethnic groups against school authorities up and down this country.

Regarding this case specifically, the girl was not discriminated against as the school in question, which is one of the most multicultural in the UK (there are 43 languages spoken there) and whose headmistress is a Muslim woman, offered students an alternative option to the standard British uniform which was also approved by the Muslim Council of Britain. The girl chose to attend this specific school, well aware of what the uniform policy was and when given the option of a Muslim-approved dress alternative, she chose not to wear it. I suspect there is a more devious political agenda behind this and the girl has just been used as a pawn by the fundamentalist Muslim groups. The decision has divided the Muslim community over here, many of whom say the Court has played right into the hands of the fundamentalists as the jilbab is only worn by the strictest Muslims and they fear it will lead to more pressure on all British Muslim women to adopt this strict dress or be branded as 'lesser women' in the eyes of Islam.

What's also frustrating about this case is this student is now attending another school with no plans to return to the one she launched this suit against AND her legal aid bill is being picked up by us taxpayers.