Yeshiva University, LGBTQ club agree to delay recognition amid appeal

An LGBTQ student club came to an agreement with Yeshiva University on Thursday to delay its recognition as the school seeks an appeal.

The YU Pride Alliance told the Manhattan-based Orthodox Jewish university on Wednesday that it would be willing to put on hold a New York Supreme Court order to recognize the club while Yeshiva appeals.

“This was a painful and difficult decision,” YU Pride Alliance said in a statement. “We are agreeing to this stay while the case moves through the New York courts because we do not want YU to punish our fellow [students] by ending all student activities while it circumvents its responsibilities.” 

Yeshiva halted all student club activities last week after the United States Supreme Court declined to overturn the New York Supreme Court ruling, noting that the university still had other avenues it could pursue at the state level first.

“We appreciate the gesture offered by the YU Pride Alliance of a ‘stay,’ and we look forward to it as an opportunity to resume the discussions we had begun, and which were halted by the lawsuit,” a Yeshiva University spokesperson said in a statement.

The university’s law firm said in a press release that the agreement would allow it to “conduct its appeals without being forced to violate its religious identity.”

Yeshiva now plans to resume club activities after students return from the Jewish holidays, according to a spokesperson.