Denied the right to ax an LGBTQ student group Yeshiva University puts all student clubs on hold
LGBTQ+ students at Yeshiva University (YU) wanted their own organization, the YU Pride Alliance. Like every group with shared interests, they wanted to celebrate their commonality, offer each other support and encouragement, and socialize with like-minded individuals — you know, like the chess club.
But YU put its foot down, saying it was against their religious beliefs. And it compromised their ability to discriminate against the “other” as their instruction manual insisted they must.
The student group sued in state court and won. The Court argued that, while YU had many religious elements, it was foremost an educational institution. Whereas places of worship — synagogues, churches, and mosques — could discriminate to their hearts’ content, YU did not fall into that category. You do not even have to be Jewish (although you do have to take Jewish studies) to attend the university.
Judge Lynn Cotler explained her decision thus,
“Yeshiva is a university that provides educational instruction first and foremost. Yeshiva’s religious character evidenced by required religious studies, observation of Orthodox Jewish law, student participation in religious services, etc., are all secondary to Yeshiva’s primary purpose.”
The matter went to the US Supreme Court where, somewhat surprisingly, Roberts and Kavanaugh joined the liberals to say the school had to stop picking on people — at least temporarily. The matter is now headed back to state court, where it will decide whatever it decides. And the matter will no doubt go back to SCOTUS either way.
YU was not happy. And it countered by temporarily shuttering all student organizations on campus. What a hissy fit.
Katie Rosenfeld, an attorney for the YU Pride Alliance, said the decision to cancel all club activities "rather than accept one LGBTQ peer support group on campus is a throwback to 50 years ago when the city of Jackson, Mississippi closed all public swimming pools rather than comply with court orders to desegregate."
Too much? Hardly. Christians used the Bible — particularly the story of Ham — to justify their enslavement of Black Africans and their Jim Crow laws against the new, postbellum African-American citizens.
Far be it from me to deny someone their religious freedom — until they use it to discriminate against their fellow citizen. No religion should give anyone the right to be a bigot in the public square. And YU is in the public square.
Of course, the school’s authorities do not see it that way. As Rabbi Ari Berman, President of YU wrote:
“Every faith-based university in the country has the right to work with its students, including its LGBTQ students, to establish the clubs, places and spaces that fit within its faith tradition. Yeshiva University simply seeks that same right of self-determination. The Supreme Court has laid out the roadmap for us to find expedited relief and we will follow their instructions. At the same time, as our commitment to and love for our LGBTQ students are unshakeable, we continue to extend our hand in invitation to work together to create a more inclusive campus life consistent with our Torah values.”
It is mealy-mouthed to say you are committed to and love your LGBTQ students but at the same time tell them they are not part of your values. It is like saying you love your dog while beating it with a stick.
I am not an expert in theology and dogma. In a debate with a Talmudic scholar, they would KO me in the first round. However, I was educated in Anglican schools, so I have a nodding familiarity with the Bible. In religious tradition, Moses wrote the Pentateuch or Torah, which includes Genesis. Modern scholarship indicates that the traditionalists are wrong, as the Torah was written centuries after Moses’ death.
Which means some anonymous guy wrote it. Bearing that in mind, Genesis 1:26-27 says:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
I always thought it was quite a trick that God could appear both male and female. But I will play along. Why can’t God also be gay and straight? Or transgender?
I realize there are later biblical verses in which Iron Age scribes wrote down a list of no-nos, including gay intimacy. But there are many other prohibitions that many religious people now ignore. And while women got the short end of it back in the day, most religions have grown up enough to recognize that women should be allowed to own property and vote. But for some reason (probably because they do not want to imagine two men having sex) religious fundamentalists cannot move beyond homophobia.
Religion can be such a boon for the faithful. But I feel sad that some religions need to keep hating people simply for what they are.
As the hymn has it:
“All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
'Twas God that made them all”