Ohio law allows student athletes to compete with hijabs and other religious apparel

Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine signed House Bill 181 into law after the legislature unanimously passed the measure, which guarantees the right of students who participate in athletics to wear religious apparel during competition without the need to obtain a waiver or otherwise receive permission in advance.

The bill was sparked by an incident involving cross country runner Noor Abukaram, who in 2019 was stripped of a personal record and disqualified from a 5K race for wearing a hijab without first obtaining a waiver. The news sparked outrage at the time, and Abukaram responded with an inspiring display of activism, spearheading an effort to end religious discrimination in athletics, starting with the Ohio law, which has come to be known as “Noor’s Law.”

Its passage has already had a big impact on the feelings of Muslim student-athletes. WOIO-TV in Cleveland has this report:

Student-athletes Abrar Ghazy and Nasreen Shakur feel a huge burden lifted off their young shoulders…

 

[Ghazy] described the process of getting a waiver to wear the hijab and participate in sports before the bill was passed as “grueling.”

 

“They made me measure the Nike [swoosh] on my scarf & take pictures of the scarf from every angle, and all this was for safety protection,” Ghazy said.

…

Shakur and Ghazy say with passage of Bill 181, they don’t have the stress of being singled out again because of who they are. “Words can be so harmful and when I was younger, it made me ashamed to wear the hijab,” Shakur said.

Students should not have to choose between wearing religious clothing required by their faith and participating in extracurricular activities like athletics, unless there is a legitimate health or safety issue, which this law addresses. Bills like Noor’s Law are long-overdue reminders of our growth as a multi-faith society and of our collective responsibility to safeguard religious freedom for all. Kudos to Noor for standing up and leading this fight!

You can visit Abukaram’s site, Let Noor Run, here. She is not done! Stay tuned.