The US Supreme Court on Friday (September 9th) granted a stage victory to the Jewish university Yeshiva by suspending the decision of a New York judge who had granted an LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer ) student association status.
As is required for decisions taken urgently, the highest court in the United States – which has six conservative magistrates out of nine – did not justify its decision, and did not specify which magistrates support it. This suspension was recorded pending a more detailed examination of the file.
The appeal filed by Yeshiva University of New York came after a judge ordered the latter to register the Yeshiva university pride alliance student club at the start of the 2022 academic year, in order to give it access to certain rooms and services. .
“As a deeply religious Jewish university, Yeshiva cannot comply with this order because it violates its sincere religious beliefs about Torah values to impart to students”she pleaded in her appeal.
The Yeshiva university offers many non-religious teachings and welcomes non-Jewish students, the promoters of the association had retorted. “She cannot deny some students access to non-religious resources because of their sexual orientation”they argued.
Several decisions in favor of religious
Yeshiva University, founded at the end of the 19the century “to promote the study of the Talmud”welcomes around 5,000 students and offers diplomas in subjects as varied as biology, psychology or accounting.
In 2018, LGBTQ students formed the Yeshiva university pride alliance, and sought to become an institution-approved association so that they could, among other things, organize conferences or meetings.
This confrontation is part of a broad debate in the United States on the balance between respect for religious freedoms and the principles of non-discrimination. The Supreme Court, deeply overhauled by former President Donald Trump, has rendered several decisions in recent months that lean in favor of the religious.
On May 24, the Supreme Court thus reversed the so-called Roe vs. Wade judgment which, since 1973, had granted American women the right to abort throughout the country. In June, she canceled a Maine program banning state funds from being spent on religious schools, and ruled that a Washington state high school football coach had the right to pray on the field after the games.