Lauderdale, Posted March 25 2004
By Tanya Weinberg and Lisa J. Huriash
Staff Writers, sun-sentinel

The humiliation began for spring breaker Mandeep Chahil with the words "take it off." He tried to explain his turban is not a hat; it's required by his Sikh religion. But staff at Max's Ocean Front at Beach Place in Fort Lauderdale insisted on a no-hat rule and kicked him out Friday night. After he and his friends continued to argue with security guards outside, police arrested Chahil and charged him with trespassing.

According to civil-rights attorneys, it may be the restaurant that broke the law. Under Florida's new civil-rights law, a business can be fined $10,000 for refusing to serve a person for reasons relating to religion. Federal civil-rights laws also apply.

But many employers do not understand these laws, and fewer know about the Sikh religion and its requirements. The religion forbids men to
cut their hair or beards, and requires them to cover their hair to keep it clean and honor God.

"They wouldn't even listen to me. I was saying it was a religious thing; it's not a hat. I can't take it off. It's like taking my head off, it's part of my body," Chahil said. Now back at George Washington University, he is still smarting over his Fort Lauderdale experience and the memory of passers-by congratulating police on his arrest, he said, "like I was Osama bin Laden."

Manager Kevin Nelson stands by Max's handling of the incident. "Our policy is no hats for men. No hats of any kind: skullcaps,
headbands, no baseball caps, no parrot headgear. All gentlemen have to remove their hats. If they get past the door and then put
their hats back on, and refuse to adhere to our policy, they are excused, they are removed from the establishment," Nelson said.

Exceptions are sometimes made during dining hours, Nelson said. But once the nightclub heats up, the staff makes sure everyone adheres
to the rule to avoid problems with unruly customers who might object. "If we made an exception, we'd have every single person with some
type [of excuse] putting their hat back on. Then I'd have every kid with a Yankee baseball hat wearing it for `religious reasons.' I've
had people try to play the religion card."

The difference between a baseball cap and a turban or yarmulke worn for religious reasons is palpably obvious, said Howard Simon,
Florida director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"It's not that they can't make a distinction, you've got to be dense not to. It's that they refused to make that distinction and thereby
they're being pretty dismissive of somebody's religion," Simon said. "And when they're barring entry because they're being dismissive of
someone's religion, then they're running smack into the civil rights laws."

Nelson said Max's owner may be open to amending his no-hats policy if it somehow violates the law. "But basically, my understanding is that alcoholic establishments have the right to refuse service to anyone," he said.

"It all depends," said Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, who last year pushed for the new civil rights law. "They're not allowed to discriminate. And anything that shows a pattern or practice of discrimination against any group, any religion, any ethnicity, any race, is inappropriate."

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, discrimination and hate-crime complaints to the 8-year-old Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force, or SMART, shot up among the nation's 500,000 Sikhs, who are often mistaken for Muslims.

The Washington-based group has documented 300 incidents, 180 of them in the first six months following the attacks. In the months
following the attacks, two Sikh men were murdered in hate crimes where the perpetrators associated their appearance with radical
Muslims.

Incidents have tapered off, but remain much more common than before 9/11, said Manjit Singh, SMART's president. About 20 of the
documented incidents involve a Sikh who was refused service at a public business on the basis of his appearance.

"These incidents are underreported because many people in the community don't realize it's against the law to prevent people from
entering the establishment," Singh said.

Both SMART and the New York-based Sikh Coalition have found that businesses will usually amend their policy once they understand how
civil rights laws apply. SMART has also trained law enforcement officers in Sikh awareness and next week, a local Sikh leader will
hold a similar session at the Broward Sheriff's Office.

South Florida is home to about 500 Sikh families who attend Gurdwara, a Sikh temple, in Cooper City.

The night Chahil got arrested, his South Florida host, Sukhpal Singh, 24, was taking him around. Singh said he also had his hair wrapped,
but in a bandana, covered by a backward baseball cap.

"The reason I wear a bandana is that people down here can be pretty cruel and I try to blend in," said Singh, owner of a Coral
Gables restaurant.

He said he was in the bathroom when his friend got kicked out. Outside, Singh said he was the one who continued to argue with
Beach Place security guards who told Chahil to leave the premises. Then Fort Lauderdale police arrived and arrested Chahil for
trespassing. The department provided a police report but declined to respond to Chahil and Singh's allegations that officers were
physically rough.

"He got shoved against the car and I was like this is wrong, he's a skinny kid and they shouldn't even be doing that," Singh said. "Everyone was against him that night. It seemed like they'd never even seen a guy with a turban before. South Florida's supposed to be a very diverse place, and yet this is all happening to my friend from out of town who is just trying to have a fun time."