University accused of creating “sham” LGBTQ club after banning one that already existed

-

Amidst an ongoing legal battle between the Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva University and the YU Pride Alliance – an LGBTQ group it refused to recognize – Yeshiva has announced the creation of its own LGBTQ group.

Yeshiva claims The Kol Yisrael Areivim Club supports LGBTQ students while remaining in line with Orthodox Jewish beliefs, allowing LGBTQ students to explore their identities “within the Torah framework,” according to senior counsel and vice president at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Eric Baxter.

But in a statement to The Hill, the YU Pride Alliance called this a “sham” and a “desperate stunt” to distract the school’s critics, especially because the club does not have any members and wasn’t formed by students.

“It is a feeble attempt by YU to continue denying LGBTQ students equal treatment as full members of the YU student community,” the group said.

A letter from the school to students and faculty reportedly explained that the university-sanctioned club “will provide students with space to grow in their personal journeys, navigating the formidable challenges that they face in living a fully committed, uncompromisingly authentic halachic life within Orthodox communities.”

The problem is that Halacha (Jewish law) does not support LGBTQ identities.

The school said that the club “also reflects input and perspectives from conversations between Yeshiva’s rabbis, educators, and current and past undergraduate LGBTQ students.” It also said there will be increased support services for LGBTQ students on campus and anti-bullying policies will be strictly enforced.

A statement from university President Ari Berman said the school is “eager to support and facilitate the religious growth and personal life journeys of all of our students to lead authentic Torah lives, and we hope that this Torah-based initiative with a new student club tailored to Yeshiva’s undergraduate LGBTQ students will provide them with meaningful support to do so.”

But the legal battle between Yeshiva and the YU Pride Alliance will continue.

“Our defense continues against the New York lower court’s ruling that we are not a religious institution and that we lack full religious authority over our environment,” Berman said. “Our defense of this matter is essential to our ability to operate Yeshiva consistent with Torah values.”

In September, the Supreme Court announced it would not block an order from a lower court stating that Yeshiva is required to recognize the YU Pride Alliance.

In response, Yeshiva emailed students to say that all undergraduate clubs would be canceled while the school “immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YU’s religious freedom.”

From there, Yeshiva decided to take the high road, agreeing to give up its right to immediate recognition and instead wait to see how the lawsuit plays out as long as other clubs can resume activities.

The conflict began when a lower court ordered Yeshiva to recognize the YU Pride Alliance in accordance with the state of New York’s anti-discrimination law. While the law does contain an exemption for religious institutions, a judge found that the school’s charter identifies it as an “educational corporation” and not a religious one.

The order from the Supreme Court is not set in stone, as the New York appellate courts have not yet ruled on the case. As such, the justices said Yeshiva could bring its case back to the Supreme Court once the state court has issued a decision.

The battle is part of the nationwide debate over how far religious freedom can go. And supporters of the Pride group continue to argue that the existence of LGBTQ people does not conflict with Jewish values.



source https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/university-accused-creating-sham-lgbtq-club-banning-one-already-existed/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prosecutors decline to charge suspect identified in alleged anti-trans mass shooting

-
Image
Prosecutors in Chicago have failed to charge a suspect identified in photo lineups as the shooter who killed a trans woman and her mother in a home invasion in January . Three other victims were wounded, including two other trans women. The suspect, who remains unidentified because he hasn’t been charged, has two other pending cases in Cook County court, records reveal: a felony residential burglary count and a misdemeanor count of domestic battery. The 19-year-old suspect lives in the same apartment complex as the victims did, on Chicago’s South Side. The police report for the mass shooting details how two people “kicked in the front door and began shooting” at about 1:40 p.m. on January 23. Unique Banks, 20, and her mother Alexsandra Olmo, 43, were killed at the scene. Three other victims were hospitalized in critical condition. One witness told investigators they had seen two males running north from the courtyard building wearing green camouflage. The shooting took place o...
Read more

Census Bureau will start testing new LGBTQ+ questions on its yearly survey

-
Image
The U.S. Census Bureau, after nearly a year of pushing the Biden administration, will begin testing questions pertaining to LGBTQ+ identity on its American Community Survey (ACS). These questions would ask people about their sexual orientation and gender identity. The Bureau put out a Federal Register notice signifying that this is the last chance for the public to give comment on all pending ACS questions, including those pertaining to LGBTQ+ individuals. The deadline given for comment is May 30, with an online form provided for any feedback on these questions. The wording for these questions can be found on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website . After the Bureau’s deadline, it will be submitting the questions to the Office of Management and Budget, where they will await approval for testing in the summer. The ACS asks questions about demographic, socioeconomic, and housing-related topics annually. New questions must undergo a rigorous approval and testing p...
Read more

Conservatives are outraged over fake AI images of Target’s Satanic offerings

-
Image
Conservatives were already upset about Target over its LGBTQ+-inclusive Pride collection. But now they’re angry over fake AI-generated images that show the store selling “Satanic” clothing. The images show kids wearing clothes with inverted pentagrams and goat heads and a store display with a red, goat-headed mannequin. The images were created by Facebook user Dan Reese with the AI program Midjourney, Reuters reported . A Target spokesperson told the publication that it “has never sold” the pictured items, and the items aren’t available on the store’s website. Related Stories Brave gay man yells “Praise Satan” & throws Bible in fire at pastor’s book-burning The husbands kissed as congregants screamed in disgust. “That guy has balls of steel,” one commenter wrote under the video. A Facebook page called Christian Patriots posted the images and wrote , “Look at the faces on these children, I feel in my spirit, they even knew there was something satanic with making t...
Read more