President Barack Obama's visit to an Islamic center in Baltimore is being called a tacit endorsement of gender apartheid by a pair of writers in The New York Times.

Asra Q. Nomani and Ify Okoye describe the scene this weekend at the mosque as boys and girls were separated before going into the Muslim equivalent of Sunday school:

The girls, shrouded in headscarves that, in some cases, draped half their bodies, slipped into a stark gymnasium and found seats on bare red carpet pieces laid out in a corner. They faced a tall industrial cement block wall, in the direction of the qibla, facing Mecca, a basketball hoop above them. Before them a long narrow window poured a small dash of sunlight into the dark gym.

On the other side of the wall, the boys clamored excitedly into the majestic musallah, their feet padded by thick, decorated carpet, the sunlight flooding into the room through spectacular windows engraved with the 99 names of Allah, or God, in Islam. Ornate Korans and Islamic books filled shelves that lined the front walls.

The writers call on President Obama to stand up for the rights of girls, including inside the mosque where he made a stand against "Islamophobia" on Wednesday and said that Islam had always been part of America.