Putting aside their differences for the time being, Yeshiva University and the YU Pride Alliance have agreed to a stay of judgment in their ongoing court battle, allowing the university to go through the appeals process without making any changes to the status quo on campus.
The move is the latest action in the case that pits the university against students who want to have an officially recognized LGBTQ+ club on campus.
Yeshiva University claims that as a religious corporation, it is exempt from state rules that provide equal status based on sexual orientation. However, opponents say denying the students equal status violates their constitutional rights under the First Amendment.
In June, the New York State Supreme Court ordered YU to immediately recognize the YU Pride Alliance as it does other school clubs. The university sought a stay of that order and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for relief.
After an initial stay was granted by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the full court, in a 5-4 decision, denied Yeshiva University’s request. It ordered the school to take its appeal back to New York state courts, which YU has since done.
The court’s ruling meant that the Pride Alliance club would, at least for now, have had the same rights as other school clubs while the appeals process was ongoing. However, YU suspended all of its school clubs until after this fall’s Jewish holidays, which run until mid-October.
Under the new agreement in place, when clubs do return, YU will not be required to add the YU Pride Alliance until the appeals process has run its course.
Hanan Eisenman, director of communications at YU, said, “Now that Pride Alliance has offered a stay, we have sent their lawyers a signed agreement to stay the trial court order. We look forward to working together to quickly resolve this issue.”