The U.S. Supreme Court has granted New York City's Yeshiva University temporarily the right to refuse to recognize a student LGBTQ student club on campus. Justice Sonia Sotomayor allowed the university's request – filed by the Becket law firm – to block a lower-court order ordering them to recognize the Pride Alliance club.
Arielle Del Turco is assistant director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council. She contends Pride Alliance's quest for recognition is unreasonable.
"They really are open about the fact that they want to change the culture of Yeshiva University – and they want to do so despite the thousands of years of Torah tradition that the school embraces," she explains.
The group of alumni and students sued the university arguing that despite its 136-year commitment to religious identity, the school is not a religious institution.
The school argues that the lower-court order violates its First Amendment rights. According to Del Turco, the case carries implications well beyond Yeshiva University.
"It's really going to say a lot about whether even Christian colleges in the United States can remain distinctly Christian or whether they too are going to have to accept LGBTQ Pride Alliance clubs if their students try to start them," she tells AFN.
According to Becket, friend-of-the-court briefs from across the religious spectrum – Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and others – were filed in support of the school's emergency application to the Supreme Court.
More about the case: YU Pride Alliance v. Yeshiva University
