Bachelorette’s act of faith
What happens when the bestknown dating show meets one of its most-misunderstood religions?
The Bachelorette brought Sikhs into the spotlight Monday night. One of the finalists took Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay home to meet his estranged dad, a yogi and convert to the minority faith. People who identify as Sikh make up just a fraction of one per cent of the population.
Sikh fans were nervous about the portrayal, which was teased in promotions as part of the drama between contestant Dean Unglert and his father, whom he says emotionally abandoned him and became “eccentric” after his mother died. Before the episode, Unglert took to Instagram with a heartfelt call for religious understanding.
“I’m asking for a favour: when I said my father was eccentric, I was not referring to his Sikh faith or the turban he wears on his head,” he wrote. “I’m not asking you to spare his feelings (or mine) but instead to be cognizant and accepting of the millions of people that belong to the Sikh community.”
On the show, things didn’t turn out well between Unglert and his dad, who now goes by Paramroop Singh Khalsa. Even though he encouraged viewers to respect his father’s religion, Unglert himself struggled to embrace aspects of his life as a Sikh, part of a much bigger emotional rift between the two.
It’s a complicated storyline, and maybe that can be seen as a small victory for Sikhs, who are used to seeing flat stereotypes of their faith on screen, if it shows up at all.
“Sikhs are so under-represented, especially on broadcast TV,” said Simran Jeet Singh, senior religion fellow with the Sikh Coalition. “Moments like these are exciting for the community because there’s an opportunity for people to see us as a normal part of American society, rather than a stereotype or trope.”
Sikhs, which number 25 million worldwide, face all sorts of confusion from people unfamiliar with their faith. Nine in 10 Sikhs live in India, where the religion originated about 500 years ago.
Because men customarily wear long beards and turbans and most are South Asian, they often are mistaken for a Muslim. Or, as some Bachelorette viewers tweeted about Dean’s dad, a genie.
The Bachelorette showcased a different face of Sikhism, a white convert, in a real but challenging family context.
Unglert referred to his dad as “some kind of Sikh” and instructed Lindsay on how to pronounce the name he took on when he converted six years ago. His first name “means ‘divinely beautiful,’ and it’s a self-given name, so that speaks to his character,” Unglert said.
When the couple walked into Paramroop’s Colorado cabin, with pillows all over the floor and a picture of a guru hanging on the wood panelling, Unglert asked why they weren’t sitting at a table. Several times, he and Lindsay referred to the family as “not traditional.”