Green German mayor supports headscarf ban

In an open letter supporting the initiative of women’s right movement Terre des Femmes, the Green mayor of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg said he was the first to sign the movement’s petition to ban headscarfs for girls in local schools and day centers.

“Girls should learn that God will not punish them if they don’t wear a headscarf,” Palmer wrote. “They should understand this is nothing unchaste and that men will not classify them as sex objects if their hair is out.”

Terre des Femmes launched the petition after a girls’ meeting in November on the day of discrimination against women in November, when several refugee girls wore headscarfs. The petition has since also been signed by several prominent German intellectuals and Game of Thrones actress Sibel Kekilli, who is of Turkish origin.