As has been widely reported, Sanjum Paul Sing Samagh, a UC Irvine medical student who always wears a Sikh turban in public, was turned away from a Costa Mesa bar that does not allow its patrons to wear hats....

So what should the Annex have done on the night of Jan. 25?

It's simple. The management should have realized that its policy did not anticipate someone like Samagh.

Every rule has exceptions. This was one such occasion.

Think about it. What would the Annex do for a cancer patient wearing an inoffensive cap to hide his bald head? Tell him to go someplace else to dance?

If you did, how would you sleep at night?....

As civil-rights stages go, the OC bar is, at best, a symbol of more serious confrontations.

Sikhs have been taken off commercial flights because of the ceremonial daggers their faith can require them to carry.

In Europe, the failure of devout Muslims to assimilate in dress has sent shock waves through France and Britain. Distrust of Muslim immigrants fuels the debate.

So far, Samagh is asking for is an apology and a change of bar policy.

That should be so easy.

That is, unless the Annex has a thing about serving Sikhs.

In which case, the bar deserves to lose its hat. [Link]