A single father who lives in the Toronto area said he knew his 9-year-old daughter’s swim class was girls-only — but he didn’t know that meant he couldn’t watch.

But for “religious reasons,” the Toronto Sun reported, the father can’t attend.

“I spoke to a staff member and she told me that it’s because of Muslim women, that we’re not allowed to look at them or whatever,” the 38-year-old father, who declined to give his full name, said in the report. “I don’t think religion has a role to play in a public pool.”

The class is offered at the community center. The dad — whose first name is Chris — said he wanted his daughter to learn to swim with girls in order to help her make friends, the Blaze reported. But he was surprised by the lockout, and he wasn’t the only one.

“There were other fathers there who weren’t too happy,” he said, as The Blaze reported.

The Toronto Sun said a local government official, Councillor John Parker, called the father’s complaint “legitimate.”

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