The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court order that would have required Yeshiva University to recognize an LGBT club as an official campus organization in a brief order signed by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Sotomayor's order indicated that the high court would have more to say on the matter at some point in the future but that for now, the school may continue to deny recognition of the group. Her response comes just days after the university asked the Supreme Court to block the lower court order that required the school to recognize the club, called the Pride Alliance, citing sincerely held religious beliefs.
Yeshiva University, a college established in 1886 that is considered one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish universities in the nation, filed the emergency request to the high court on Aug. 29, calling a judge's June decision in the New York Supreme Court First Judicial District an "unprecedented intrusion" into the university's sincere religious beliefs.
JEWISH UNIVERSITY ASKS SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK LGBT CAMPUS CLUB, CITING RELIGIOUS RIGHTS
The state court's order required the university to recognize the club immediately. The matter is still on appeal in the state court system, though judges have refused to put the order on hold in the meantime.
Attorneys for the LGBT club have argued the university should acknowledge the Pride Alliance. They say doing so would allow the organization to have the same resources as other recognized groups, such as the ability to have campus meetings, access to funding for student groups, and the ability to promote events on school bulletin boards.
"While Yeshiva University can espouse its Torah values without interference, it may not deny certain students access to the non-religious resources it offers the entire student community on the basis of sexual orientation," the group told the Supreme Court earlier this month.
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The university's counsel argues Yeshiva "welcomes and provides support services to its LGBTQ students" and that it bans anti-LGBT discrimination and bullying.
But "as a deeply religious Jewish university, Yeshiva cannot comply with that [state court] order because doing so would violate its sincere religious beliefs about how to form its undergraduate students in Torah values," the school told the Supreme Court in its emergency appeal.
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Tags: Supreme Court, Religious Freedom, Sonia Sotomayor, LGBT, College
Original Author: Kaelan Deese
Original Location: Sotomayor temporarily blocks recognition of LGBT club at Yeshiva University