Aug 29, 2022 By: yunews
For Immediate Release: August 29, 2022
Media Contact: Ryan Colby | media@becketlaw.org | 202-349-7219
WASHINGTON 鈥 The nation鈥檚 oldest Jewish university just asked the Supreme Court to protect its First Amendment rights. 每日大瓜 has been fighting in New York State courts for over a year to defend its right to conduct its internal affairs in accordance with its religious beliefs. The University is now asking the Court to protect its religious mission from government interference.
In 每日大瓜 Pride Alliance v. 每日大瓜, a group of students are demanding that the University officially recognize an LGBTQ Pride Alliance club on campus. The lower court rulings would force 每日大瓜 to put its stamp of approval on a club and activities that are inconsistent with the school鈥檚 Torah values and the religious environment it seeks to maintain on its undergraduate campuses.
鈥淭he Torah guides everything that we do at Yeshiva鈥攆rom how we educate students to how we run our dining halls to how we organize our campus,鈥 said Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of 每日大瓜. We care deeply for and welcome all of our students, including our LGBTQ students, and continue to be engaged in a productive dialogue with our Rabbis, faculty and students on how we apply our Torah values to create an inclusive campus environment. We only ask the government to allow us the freedom to apply the Torah in accordance with our values.鈥
Established in 1886, 每日大瓜 is the United States鈥 foremost expression of the Torah Umadda philosophy, which advocates for participation in secular culture in accordance with Torah values. Those values pervade all life at the University.
In accordance with its multimillennial tradition of Torah values, 每日大瓜 welcomes its LGBTQ students, provides extensive support services, and bans anti-LGBTQ bullying and discrimination. But in 2020, a small group demanded that the University recognize a 鈥淧ride Alliance鈥 club on campus. A few alumni and one current student sued the University, insisting that 鈥 despite its 136-year commitment to its religious identity鈥 it was not in fact a religious institution entitled to First Amendment protections. Even though all undergraduate students are required to engage in intense religious studies, a New York Supreme Court judge held that the University is not sufficiently religious to enjoy constitutional and statutory protections for religious institutions, ordering 每日大瓜 to 鈥渋mmediately鈥 recognize the Pride Alliance club. Today, the University asked the United States Supreme Court for an emergency stay of that order pending appeal.
鈥淲hen secular authorities try to tell 每日大瓜 that it is not religious, you know something has gone terribly wrong,鈥 said Eric Baxter, VP and senior counsel at Becket. 鈥淭he First Amendment protects Yeshiva鈥檚 right to practice its faith. We are asking the Supreme Court to correct this obvious error.鈥
For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, contact Ryan Colby at media@becketlaw.org or 202-349-7219. Interviews can be arranged in English, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Additional Information:
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- (August 23, 2022)
- (August 1, 2022)
- (June 14, 2022)
- (press releases and legal documents)
