Dave, do you and your wife work in the same place, and do you have regular interactions with this security guard as part of your job? If not, I guess I'm at a loss as to why you would ask "how should I react"? If you don't work there, why wouldn't you just ignore him?

As to "the same laws protecting the equality of both faith and sex" again, I would not presume to say what the laws are in the UK, but in the US, the employment laws governing the accomodation of a person's religion in the workplace are not the same laws regarding discimination based upon gender. Regarding the accomodation of religious beliefs in the workplace, this would include the worker being allowed to take their religious holidays off without being penalized, or a space being given to them to pray (as Muslims are required to) during their call to prayer time. Since most Muslims believe men and women to be equal in the same ways their Christian and Jewish colleagues do, I find it odd to suggest that discrimination against women is something you assume to be a required religious practice, rather than a cultural prejudice. It isn't.