The United States Supreme Court has put a stop to plans made by a private Orthodox Jewish university to ban LGBTQ+ student groups on their campus.
The Supreme Court’s decision was made after the Yeshiva University filed an emergency motion to block a previous lower court order by New York judge Lynn Kolter ordering the university to grant “advantages, facilities, and privileges afforded to all other student groups” to the LGBTQ+ club.
Kolter stated that the club’s recognition did not violate First Amendment rights because “formal recognition of a student group does not equate to [an] endorsement of that group’s message.”
Jonathan Berry, who represented the university, claimed that “as a deeply religious Jewish university, Yeshiva cannot comply with that order because doing so would violate its sincere religious beliefs about how to form its undergraduate students in Torah values.”
Berry also claimed the university “welcomes and provides support services to its LGBTQ students” and bans discrimination and bullying against LGBTQ+ people.
The decision to deny the emergency request has been met with praise by graduates and current students alike from Yeshiva University.
Graduate Molly Meisels described the decision as a victory for student rights saying, “This Supreme Court decision is a victory for Yeshiva University students who are simply seeking basic rights that are uncontested at peer universities.”
