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California Governor signs into law pro-Sikh, pro-Muslim bills

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Press Trust of India Los Angeles
Last Updated : Jan 24 2013 | 2:10 AM IST

Brown signed the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, Assembly Bill 1964 which ensures that employees receive equal protection under law, protecting workers who wear turbans, hijabs and yarmulkes, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.

In California, employers faced over 500 cases of religious discrimination in 2011, it said.

Brown also signed Senate Bill 1540 that updates the California high school curriculum so that every student in the State learns about the about the history, tradition and theology of Sikhism and California Sikhs.

When Brown signed the bills on the north steps of the Capitol on Saturday, he was surrounded by Sikhs wearing blue, green, saffron, red, pink and black turbans.

"Breaking down prejudice is something you've got to do every day, and to help us do that, I'm going to sign a couple of bills," Brown told an enthusiastic crowd of 500 Sikhs from as far away as Texas and Colorado.

"Sikhs everywhere can see in California they are a powerful presence," the paper quoted him as saying.

Education can blunt hatred, prejudice and fatal misunderstandings, such as the massacre of Sikhs outside a Wisconsin temple, he said.

Brown said that since the Gold Rush of 1849, California's been built by waves of immigrants

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First Published: Sep 10 2012 | 12:35 PM IST

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