The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)—the nation’s largest employer—continues to discriminate against Sikhs who wear turbans and maintain uncut hair and beards. With the exception of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force, the military still prohibits many Sikhs from serving with their articles of faith. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps in particular maintain restrictive policies—policies that ignore the fact that Sikhs are able to meet safety and operational requirements in the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and militaries throughout the world while maintaining their articles of faith. 

Despite years of progress and both bipartisan and interfaith cooperation on this issue, religious accommodations regarding facial hair have recently come under additional scrutiny by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. In March 2026, Secretary Hegseth released an updated guidance for those seeking beard accommodations for religious reasons including a process that will reevaluate Sikh service members with existing accommodations.

Read further to learn about both the pre- and post-2025 chapters of this longstanding campaign. The Sikh Coalition continues to believe that no one should be forced to choose between their faith and their career, and that how the DoD chooses to either accommodate or discriminate against Sikhs will have downstream impacts for sangat members across the public and private sectors.

SIKH COALITION’S MILITARY CAMPAIGN: 2009-2025

Following in the footsteps of women and the African American and LGBT communities, the Sikh Coalition began fighting to systematically remove barriers that prevent Sikhs from serving in the U.S. military back in 2009. Our earliest efforts saw widespread support. In September 2014, more than 100 representatives and 15 senators sent bipartisan letters to the DoD urging equal opportunity for Sikhs to serve in the U.S. military; in November 2015, 27 retired generals sent a letter to then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter calling on the DoD to eliminate the prohibitive ban on Sikhs serving in all branches of the U.S. military. 

In 2016, a federal court agreed with our position when we filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army in partnership with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and our pro bono counsel at the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery (this pro bono collaboration now continues with the law firm of Winston & Strawn LLP). This lawsuit, brought on behalf of three Sikh pre-accession soldiers, called on the Army to accommodate their religious articles of faith, including turbans, uncut hair, and beards, so that each could begin Basic Combat Training. Moving forward from that lawsuit, we saw additional major victories:

  • In January 2017, the Army updated its uniform and grooming policies, making it significantly easier for Sikhs and other religious minorities to obtain accommodations to serve with their religious articles of faith. The policy change led to the Army granting religious accommodations to more than 20 Sikh Coalition clients and dozens of other Sikhs. Among these successes, two Sikh Coalition clients were the first known male Sikh soldiers to maintain their articles of faith in West Point’s 219-year history. 
  • In February 2020, the U.S. Air Force followed in the Army’s footsteps and released a new policy to streamline their religious accommodation process, including the addition of clear grooming and uniform standards for service members who are granted religious accommodations. The Air Force has already granted religious accommodations to a few observant Sikh airmen, including a Sikh Coalition client in the Air National Guard. 
  • In October 2021, the U.S. Marine Corps granted a partial and incomplete religious accommodation to our first USMC client, then-1stLt Sukhbir Singh Toor. We subsequently filed suit in April 2022 to push for full accommodations for him and three pre-accession Sikh clients. The lawsuit was bifurcated into two pieces: one about the ability of Sikhs to maintain articles of faith at Marine ‘boot camp,’ and another about the ability of Sikhs to maintain articles of faith in certain deployable roles. As a result of the first portion, in August 2023, then-Pfc. Jaskirat Singh graduated from Basic Training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California—becoming the first known Sikh to do so with his articles of faith intact. Litigation around the second portion remains ongoing as we push for a comprehensive USMC policy change.

SIKH COALITION’S MILITARY CAMPAIGN: 2025-PRESENT

In September 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed almost 800 generals, admirals, and their senior enlisted leaders, announcing “No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression” and “no more beardo-s” in the U.S. military. Following this address, the Secretary then sent out a memo stating that the DoD would revert back to pre-2010 standards where facial hair waivers were generally not authorized. As the Sikh Coalition waited for future guidance from the DoD, we started federal advocacy outreach: 

In March 2026, the DoD issued updated guidance regarding religious exemptions to grooming standards for facial hair. The new policy walked back some of the more extreme claims of the September memo and announced that all service members with existing accommodations for their facial hair will be reevaluated under a new process with stricter guidelines. Our legal team reviewed the memo and put together a letter on this reevaluation process for Sikh service members with accommodations. As of the time of writing, the Sikh Coalition continues to wait for more detailed guidance and more information about these reevaluations, which will likely be specific to each military branch. 

HOW CAN YOU HELP

If you know of a Sikh American enlisting in the military who needs legal advice or representation, please have them reach out to the Sikh Coalition’s legal team.