Sultaana Lakiana Myke Freeman is a resident of the state of Florida, United States. She gained media attention when she sued the state of Florida in order to wear a face veil for her driver's license picture.
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Born as Sandra Keller in Washington, D.C. in 1967, she attended school in Effingham, Illinois and, in 1985, she enrolled at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, graduating in 1989 with a degree in Commercial Music and a Business Administration minor. Later in 1989, she began employment at a utility company which lasted for a ten year period, in which she was an engineering assistant.
Freeman converted to Islam in January 1997, initially only wearing the headscarf, but donning the full face veil (niqab) by the end of the year. In December 1997, she obtained an Illinois driver's license with the veil, to reflect her new outside appearance and faith.
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2001
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2004
In 2002, Freeman filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against Florida when the state's Department of Highway Safety suspended her license when she refused to be re-photographed without her veil. Freeman's legal license was suspended without change in policy or law following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Freeman's lawsuit argued that her religious beliefs required her to wear a veil "in front of strangers and unrelated males". It also stated that other states allowed photo-free licenses for religious reasons. Judge Janet C. Thorpe denied her lawsuit that year, and a state appeals court later upheld her decision. Freeman has reportedly continued her appeal.