The Shadow
ATLANTA (AP) – A Muslim woman is claiming in a federal lawsuit that she was dismissed from the Atlanta Police Department’s civilian honor guard because she refused to remove her traditional headscarf.
Helen Lane says in a federal lawsuit filed this week that the head of the voluntary guard laughed at her when she told him she would wear her hijab at a September 2006 funeral. She said she felt “humiliated, hurt and was traumatized” by the laughter.
Lane, who is seeking $250,000 in damages, said she was told by another Atlanta official that “the hijab was like a swastika.”
The city has denied the allegations and the honor guard has since been disbanded.
