A state appeals court in New York has ruled against Yeshiva University in its efforts to deny recognition to an LGBQ+ club on campus.On Thursday, a four-judge panel of New York’s Appellate Division in Manhattan issued a unanimous ruling that Yeshiva University did not qualify as a religious corporation exempt from the New York City Human Rights Law, and must formally recognize the Y.U.
Pride Alliance. The panel also ruled recognition of the LGBTQ+ club would not be a violation of the university’s first amendment constitutional rights.“We hope that the University will accept the Pride Alliance’s invitation to resolve the lawsuit by finally recognizing an authentic, student-run, mutually acceptable LGBTQ+ undergraduate student club that operates like all other clubs at YU,” Katie Rosenfeld, Y.U.
Pride Alliance’s attorney, told Law&Crime.Students with Pride Alliance had sued after the school failed to recognize the group, and a New York State judge in June ruled in their favor, saying the school was not a strictly religious institution and was not exempt from local anti-discrimination laws.
The university argued its Orthodox Judaism beliefs do not permit approval of same-sex relationships.The case was rejected for emergency relief by the U.S.