"Pub sorry for evicting patron with turban"

A Brisbane hotel that evicted a patron for wearing a turban is trying to find him so it can apologise. Spirit Hotels, which is a Coles subsidiary, has confirmed to AAP one of its staff members at the Royal English Hotel at Nundah in Brisbane's north on Sunday asked a man to remove his turban under its "no headwear" policy. After the Sikh man refused, he was evicted.
A spokesman for Spirit Hotels said the decision to ask him to remove his turban was an oversight. "Our hotels have a policy where patrons may be asked to remove headwear to help the venue manage security for staff and patrons," the spokesman said. "However, in this particular incident, the patron should not have been asked to remove his turban, and we are attempting to contact the patron to apologise. Hotel staff are being educated again on correct application of the policy."
Queensland Hotels Association chief executive Justin O'Connor said hotels had the right to set dress standards and refuse entry or service to anyone who did not comply with their code or breached laws on the responsible service of alcohol.
"As long as it's not in breach of the anti-discrimination act then they can set a dress code," Mr O'Connor told AAP.
 (Full story)

Nice that this seems to working itself out, but it's odd that this sort of thing is still happening. In a fairly multicultural city like Brisbane, has no one told the staff at the Royal English Hotel that a turban is not just another hat? You'd have to question why the matter is of such importance that it warranted such a drastic step as evicting the man. Was he somehow wielding the turban as a deadly weapon? Was the headgear such a crime against sartorial aesthetics that it was hurting the other patrons? Common sense would say no. You could certainly make reasonable arguments against certain religious paraphenalia, such as the burqa, niqab or the kirpan (Sikh ceremonial dagger). But wearing a turban or yarmulke would not seem to count as a security or safety risk to anyone.

Although as many of the comments attached to this news site indicate, common sense is not all that common.

"he dont deserve an apology this is australia respect out rules and adopt our coulture dont come here and make your own rules"

 "HERE is the answer - BANANAS!! Monkeys love 'em! Just lay some on the ground leading right into the sea and hopefully they will follow and drown!!"

"fit in or piss off. Sick of muslims and other funny hat wearers, if your god is so great kill yourselves and go be with him"

But putting aside the rights of the discriminated Sikh man for a second, let's not forget another minority group whose rights are being trampled upon: the security and door staff and pubs and bars. Is political correctness and multiculturalism trampling on their inalienable right to be assholes to anyone who dares to try enter their venue without being sufficiently cool?
On second thought, I'm sure they'll be okay. As long as they are properly trained to not make an issue of turbans, they can still fall back on usual repertoire: "Sorry, members only tonight," or the classic "Not with those shoes, mate."