Religious school recognizes LGBTQ student club after years of conflict

Yahoo

26-03-2025

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A notable legal battle involving LGBTQ college students and a religious school has come to an end.
Yeshiva University, a Jewish college in New York, announced Thursday that it will recognize an LGBTQ student club and allow it to be run like other clubs on campus moving forward.
The club, called Hareni, 'will operate in accordance with the approved guidelines of Yeshiva University's senior rabbis,' the school's statement said, per The Associated Press.
The name comes from a phrase that's recited before certain Jewish prayers.
The phrase 'translates to 'I hereby undertake to fulfill the positive commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself,'' according to Forward.
Yeshiva's unexpected announcement resolved a yearslong clash between school officials and LGBTQ students — and a lawsuit that made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
The lawsuit began in April 2021, when students involved in what was then called the YU Pride Alliance sued Yeshiva, alleging that school leaders were violating the New York City Human Rights Law by refusing to treat their group like other student clubs.
The law outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as I reported in September 2022.
Campus leaders claimed Yeshiva University was eligible for a faith-based exemption to the Human Rights Law and argued that recognizing the club would force the school to violate its religious beliefs and harm similarly situated schools across the country.
Yeshiva faced a setback at an early stage in the case when a trial court ruled that it likely didn't qualify for the religious exemption and needed to recognize YU Pride Alliance as the lawsuit played out. The ruling noted that the school confers many secular degrees and accepts non-Jewish students.
Yeshiva officials rejected the idea that their school wasn't religious and appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. But the justices allowed it to stand, determining that school leaders had not yet exhausted their legal options in the lower courts.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Yeshiva officials temporarily suspended all student clubs on campus. But then YU Pride Alliance offered to forgo court-ordered recognition so that other campus groups could operate as usual.
Now, two and a half years later, the school has reached a settlement with the LGBTQ club. The exact terms of the agreement have not been made public, but students have confirmed that they will be free to host a variety of events on campus and choose their own adviser.
'The club confirmed the agreement and said it will enjoy the same privileges as other student organizations on campus. It plans to host charitable events, movie nights, panel discussions and career networking events and will publicly use 'LGBTQ+' on flyers and advertisements,' the AP reported.
'This agreement affirms that LGBTQ+ students at Yeshiva University are valued members of the community,' Schneur Friedman, a president of the group, told the AP.
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