A student pins a notice from the Yeshiva University Pride Alliance to a board on campus. Photo: Courtesy of YU Pride Alliance

Yeshiva University in New York City has suspended all of its student clubs in an apparent attempt to resist complying with a Supreme Court order that directed it to recognize YU Pride, an LGBTQ+ pride club.

According to Gothamist, the university said it intends to “hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YU’s religious freedom.”

On Sept. 9, United States Supreme Court Justice (SCOTUS) Sonia Sotomayor granted Yeshiva University’s petition for a emergency staying of a low court ruling that ordered it to grant YU Pride “the full equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges afforded to all other student groups.”

However, days later, on September 14, SCOTUS, with all justices voting, vacated Justice Sotomayor’s decision and told the university to obey the lower court’s ruling while its attorneys continue efforts to appeal it in New York’s court system.

The university responded by shuttering the doors of every campus club, prompting YU Pride’s attorney, Katherine Rosenfeld, to accuse it of appropriating the tactics of racial segregationists.

“[It] is a throwback to 50 years ago when the city of Jackson, Mississippi, closed all public swimming pools rather than comply with court orders to desegregate,” Rosenfeld told Gothamist. “By shutting down all club activities, the YU administration attempts to divide the student body, and put students against their LGBT peers.”

Rosenfeld added that she is “confident that YU students will see through this shameful tactic and stand together in community.”

Yeshiva University has argued that refusing to recognize YU Pride is consistent with certain religious beliefs on which the school is based.

“The Torah guides everything that we do at Yeshiva,” university president Ari Berman said in August.