U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has granted Yeshiva University’s request to block a LGBT student group at the university, for now. This after the university claimed that forcing it to recognize the club would violate its religious values. Sotomayor’s ruling temporarily blocks a lower-court decision that ordered the university to recognize the club in order to comply with New York City’s antidiscrimination policies.
Sotomayor’s ruling hints at the Supreme Court considering Yeshiva University’s request and potentially deciding to allow them to make the ban permanent in the future. Blocking any future attempts to make LGBT clubs official at the university.
Yeshiva University’s Pride Alliance along with several students sued the university last year over its refusal to recognize the club. The university released the following statement addressing its decision to not recognize the club as official, “the message of Torah on this issue is nuanced, both accepting each individual with love and affirming its timeless prescriptions. While students will of course socialize in gatherings as they see fit, forming a new club as requested under the auspices of YU will cloud this nuanced message.”
The university is reportedly hoping that the Supreme Court will take up the appeal directly. This could lead to the Supreme Court’s conservative majority setting a major precedent in cases relating to denying LGBT people equal rights based on claims of religious freedom.