Yeshiva University petitions Supreme Court in bid to prohibit official LGBTQ club
A private university in New York City has asked the Supreme Court to reverse a New York judge’s decision earlier this summer requiring it to officially
A private university in New York City has asked the Supreme Court to reverse a New York judge’s decision earlier this summer requiring it to officially recognize an LGBTQ student group.
Yeshiva University, which describes itself in the court filing as a “deeply religious Jewish university,” filed an emergency request with the high court on Monday to stay a lower court’s order to designate YU Pride Alliance as a bonafide campus organization.
The club has already started planning several Pride events for the fall semester, including LGBTQ “shabbatons,” and it plans to include LGBTQ-themed gift bags for Jewish holidays like Purim and Passover, the filing says.
In a victory for the student group, New York Supreme Court Judge Lynn Kotler ruled on June 14 that the school is not a religious institution and therefore must comply with New York City Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of “actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender.” Yeshiva then appealed to the next highest court, and that request was denied on Aug. 23.
In Monday’s filing, addressed to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Yeshiva asks the court to reconsider whether religious protections in the First Amendment can be used to override the city’s human rights law, which Judge Kotler used as a basis for her June decision.
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