Factual background: a friend of mine from college works as a "promoter" at a restaurant/lounge in Washington, DC. He employs sub-promoters to help him bring in people to the restaurant/lounge. Yesterday, my friend received an email from one of his sub-promoters, reviewing the previous Saturday's successes and shortcomings. Part of the sub-promoter's message included the following:

my friends were bothered my the fact that guys were wearing turbans. There are a couple of reasons that I do not like it when guys were turbans: one - if other guys can't wear hats then it is not fair if the guys can wear turbans, and second - turbans draw attention away from the party as a whole to guys wearing turbans which makes the party seem less diverse than it really is.

To his credit, my friend responded with this email:

I am really sorry you and your friends were offended by the guys that were wearing turbans at [the venue] this past Saturday.

However, you should know that federal law requires a restaurant or club with a dress code or no-hats policy to admit individuals who wear certain kinds of head coverings, such as turbans, for religious or ethnic cultural reasons. (See, Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, and national origin in "any place of public accommodation," including a restaurant or club.)

It my policy to comply to the fullest extent with this and any other applicable civil rights law. Accordingly, I admit individuals regardless of race, religion, national origin, or any other protected class.

Also, if some people are distracted by others, whether because they are wearing turbans or for any other reason, this is not under my control and is nonetheless an insufficient justification to violate federal law.

It's really a shame that you and your friends feel that way about individuals with turbans. As far as I am concerned, they are welcome to [the venue] each and every Saturday. I'll tell you who isn't welcome - anyone who exhibits the kind of bias and ignorance you expressed in your email.

Her reply:

as I mentioned it was a random side note that you only responded to one point in my thought out email that I took a long time to write. Btw, it did not offend me personally but I had guy friends who had friends with them that were turned away b/c they were wearing hats. They pointed out that it wasn't equal or fair and I have to agree with them. I wouldn't have mentioned it if guys can wear hats but it doesn't seem fair both ways.

And finally, his response, which concluded the electronic conversation between the two:

I responded to one part of your email because I was frankly shocked and disappointed that you and your friends were offended by individuals with turbans at [the venue].

With respect to your friends, you should know that we never turn anyone wearing a hat; we merely ask patrons to remove their hats before they enter. Someone who doesn't want to remove his or her hat will, obviously, decide not to come in. People who wear turbans for religious reasons can't be subject to the same bargain - we can't ask them to choose their religion or admission to a club.

Restaurants and clubs are permitted to exercise some discretion in determining who is admitted. A club can deny admission to someone wearing, for example, torn jeans, an obscene shirt, or a hat. But, I hope you understand that federal law permits such discretion up to a point - we cannot deny admission to anyone who wears head gear for religious reasons.

Needless to say, my friend will not be working with this person again. More importantly, this episode demonstrates the discomfort that individuals still have with men with turbans. While newspapers and web sites may carry reports of hate crimes and other tangible acts of discrimination, one can only imagine how many people harbor this sort of animus and act on it in more covert and inconspicuous ways.

To the civil rights activists reading this post, I say this: we have a lot of work still to do.

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