Supreme Court Gives Religious University Second Chance to Oppose Gay Group

A Washington, D.C.-based public interest firm says the legal fight isn’t over after the U.S. Supreme Court this month declined to overturn a state court order requiring Yeshiva University to give official recognition to a student gay rights group.

The university said the court order trampled its First Amendment freedom of religion rights in a dispute with potentially far-reaching consequences for religious institutions.

The group YU Pride Alliance sued to gain the same access to school accommodations as other student organizations by invoking New York City’s Human Rights Law. The law bans discrimination in public accommodations, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The university’s attorneys argued they should be granted a religious exemption to the law. 

Similar human rights laws are found in the District of Columbia as well as cities and states nationwide but never have been challenged before the Supreme Court on religious grounds.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to grant a stay of the court order won approval by a 5-to-4 majority. The four most conservative justices dissented.

Instead of ruling on the merits of the case, the Supreme Court said the university should pursue more of its legal options in the state court. 

The majority opinion said the university could ask the court in Manhattan for expedited consideration of its appeal or it could file a corrected motion to challenge the injunction granted to YU Pride Alliance.

"Without an immediate stay of the permanent injunction issued below, the nation's leading Jewish university will be forced to give official recognition to a student organization in violation of its sincere religious beliefs and Torah values," the school wrote in its application for Supreme Court review.

The university is represented by attorneys from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest advocacy group based in Washington.

YU Pride Alliance argues the university has sent "a stark and painful message of rejection and non-belonging to its LGBTQ students and their allies."

"By its acts of intentional discrimination, YU has inflicted and is continuing to inflict grave dignitary, emotional, and psychological harms on these college students, and indeed on all its students, who need belonging, safety, community, and support," says their legal complaint against the university.

The students also say Yeshiva University is subject to New York City’s Human Rights Law because it is registered as a nonsectarian corporation that is eligible to receive government funding. Since registering a half-century ago, the university has received hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds and benefits, the students’ complaint says.

The case is Yeshiva University et al. v. YU Pride Alliance et al., case number 22A184, in the U.S. Supreme Court.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.