Oh Where do I begin with this one? So... there is this boy in texas who is 5 years old and has never cut his hair. His father is native american and this is a cultural and religious tradition for them. When his parents went to enroll him in the local public school they were told by the principal that the dress code requires little boys to have hair cut above their ears. Reasons range from "it's always been like that" to "it will distract other children" (well maybe if long hair on boys was allowed to be more common it wouldn't BE a distraction!) to "boys are more likely to get dirty than girls" (though not said in so many words).
So far they've appealed it to the superintendent and been rejected and now they're going to appeal it to the school board. They have been told that they can get an exception to the rule if they can prove that they have a "sincerely held religious belief"... but how the hell does one prove a belief? They were asked for a religious text to back up their claim, but, omg, surprise, it's part of an ORAL tradition. And, really, like the fact that something's written down in a book associated with a religion one is a member of proves one believes it? Hello?
This pisses me the bloody hell off. The mom has a blog and a letter writing campaign and I definitely plan to send them a note... but not right now. Just at this moment I probably wouldn't manage something more coherent than... [redacted for prolific swearing]
From the mom's blogging it sounds like they've gotten some help so far from the ACLU and have legal assistance, but she's still happy to see more (politely worded) letters of support to the school board. It would be nice if there were enough of a flood of support to the school board that they didn't HAVE to pursue litigation.