By Lawrence
Hurley
The Supreme Court temporarily allowed an Orthodox Jewish university in New York to deny official recognition to a group of LGBTQ students, the latest in a series of rulings in favor of religious rights.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in a brief order, granted an emergency request filed by Yeshiva University, which alleges that recognizing the group would go against their sincere religious beliefs.
Sotomayor is responsible for emergency requests coming in from New York.
The dispute is the latest clash between religious rights and LGBTQ rights
to reach the high court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.
Friday's decision puts on hold a ruling by a New York state judge, who ruled in June that the university was required to comply with the New York City Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. .
The university argues that it is a religious institution and therefore should be exempt from the law.
Requiring him to endorse the group would be a “clear violation” of his rights under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects the free exercise of religion, the university argues.
Sotomayor said the lower court's ruling would be put on hold "pending a new order" from the Supreme Court.
Pedestrians walk past the Yeshiva University campus in New York on August 30, 2022.Getty Images
The group Pride Alliance, which first sought recognition in 2019, sued in April 2021, saying the university was required to grant its application because it is a public shelter that is covered by anti-discrimination law.
The yeshiva, which describes itself in court documents as "a deeply religious Jewish university,"
said officials concluded, after consulting with Jewish religious scholars, that an official LGBTQ club would be inconsistent with its values. religious.
The university was founded in 1897 for religious purposes and says it retains that character even as it has expanded its educational scope to include secular programs.
New York City's anti-discrimination law includes an exemption for religious organizations, but Manhattan-based Judge Lynn Kotler concluded that the yeshiva did not meet the relevant criteria.
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The Pride Alliance, joined by four individual plaintiffs, said in its response that the university's application was premature and questioned whether there was an emergency that warranted intervention by the Supreme Court.
All the university would have to do if the judge's order is allowed to go into effect is provide the group with access to the same facilities that 87 other groups already receive, defense attorneys said.
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Kotler's sentence "does not touch the well-established right of the university to express its sincere beliefs to all students," the attorneys said in court documents.
They pointed out that an LGBTQ club has existed at the university's law school for decades and that the institution's bill of rights for students says that New York's human rights law applies to students.
Pride Alliance members have said they are planning events in support of LGBTQ rights in the coming weeks, including some to coincide with Jewish holidays.
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The Supreme Court's conservative majority (6-3) has strongly backed religious rights in recent cases, including several in his last term, which ended in June.
Among those sentences, the court ruled in favor of a high school football coach who led prayers on the field after games, prompting concern from school officials that his actions could be viewed as a Government endorsement of religion, which is prohibited by the first amendment.
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The court, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, has also weighed several cases pitting LGBTQ rights against religious rights, ruling in 2021 in favor of a Catholic Church-affiliated agency that Philadelphia had banned from participating. in their foster care because the group refused to place children with same-sex partners.
In 2018, the court ruled in favor of a conservative Christian baker from Colorado who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
In a similar vein, justices are set to hear oral arguments this fall in a case involving a Colorado web designer who wants the court to rule that, based on his evangelical Christian beliefs, he does not have to design websites. weddings for same-sex couples.
The court is currently in summer recess, with the new term starting in October.
