Woman Wears A Burka To Protest Having To Wear A Mask In College

LEWISTON, Idaho — A Lewiston woman who spoke out against an extension of the city's mask mandate complained to the Lewiston City Council she had to wear a "freaking burqa" to attend her college classes without wearing a face mask.

The woman's rant has received national attention, appearing in the New York Post and Daily Mail articles.

Lewiston City Council met on Jan. 25 to determine if the citywide mask mandate should be extended another 90 days. Before voting on the matter, the council allowed Lewiston residents to issue comments and statements on the issue.

Many Lewiston residents were opposed to the idea of an extension. Among those residents was Katie Dugger, who went to great lengths to show her opposition to the mandate.

Dugger, a student at Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC) arrived to the meeting wearing a burqa, later revealing she purchased the attire in Peru.

"I took last semester off at LCSC because of all this nonsense, because I cannot wear a mask," Dugger said. "It doesn't matter why, but it's very traumatizing for me to put on a mask, it's something that happened to me when I was a kid."

Dugger claimed her education was being "held up because of this crap," referring to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

She informed the council that wearing a burqa was the only way she was able to attend her classes at LCSC due to her being unable to wear a mask.

"I'm wearing this because the only way I could go to school today was 'cause I had to act like I had a freaking burqa," Dugger said, covering her face with the attire. "And cover my face like I'm a Muslim. So the way for me to go to school and get my education, I gotta dress like a freaking Muslim."