Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s push to eliminate so-called “beardos” from the armed forces is drawing criticism from service members who say the policy tramples religious freedoms and disproportionately targets Black men, Muslims, Sikhs, and pagans. What Hegseth frames as discipline and toughness, critics say, is exclusion and discrimination packaged as military tradition.
“The feeling is, ‘shave your beard or get out.’ People are associating not shaving with laziness. It’s not laziness, it’s my constitutionally protected religious right,” said a practicing Hanafi Muslim service member currently on active duty.
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