Yeshiva U. Blocks All Student Clubs Rather Than OK LGBTQ+ One
Yeshiva University, an Orthodox Jewish school in New York City, is suspending all undergraduate club activities at least temporarily to avoid recognizing an LGBTQ+ organization.The U.S.
Supreme Court Wednesday declined to block a lower court’s order for the university to recognize the Pride Alliance. The high court’s decision came on procedural grounds, not the larger question of religious practice versus LGBTQ+ rights, as the justices said in a 5-4 decision that the university had not exhausted all its options in New York State courts.But the university has sent an email to students saying it “will hold off on all undergraduate club activities during the upcoming chagim [Hebrew for “holidays”] while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the US Supreme Court to protect YU’s religious freedom.” Various people have shared the email on Twitter.
Actually, despite the comments by tweeters, the move is not unprecedented — high schools and colleges around the country have taken similar steps before. “The Supreme Court has laid out the roadmap for us to find expedited relief and we will follow their instructions,” Yeshiva’s president, Rabbi Ari Berman, said in a Thursday statement, according to The Times of Israel.“The case hinges on whether the university is a secular institution, bound by New York State human rights laws, or a religious institution with beliefs protected by the First Amendment,” the Times notes.Students had sued the school for discrimination over its failure to recognize the Pride Alliance.
New York Judge Lynn Kotler ruled in June that the university is an educational institution, not a strictly religious one, so it has to obey the city and state laws.
