In March 2025, Yeshiva University officially recognized a new LGBTQ student club, marking a major shift in its policy. This decision followed a prolonged legal and public battle that began in 2021, when students sued the university for refusing to recognize the Pride Alliance, an undergraduate LGBTQ student group. Yeshiva had argued that, as a religious institution, it was exempt from New York City human rights laws requiring equal treatment of student organizations.
The case sparked national debate over the balance between religious freedom and anti-discrimination protections. After years of litigation, including a temporary pause on the Supreme Court level, the university ultimately opted to create a new, university-run club that it said would align with its Torah values while also addressing students’ needs.
And so, on March 20, YU and its gay students announced their court-approved settlement:
“The parties have reached an agreement, and the litigation is ending. Current students will be implementing a club, to be known as Hareni, that will seek to support LGBTQ students and their allies and will operate in accordance with the approved guidelines of Yeshiva University’s senior rabbis. The club will be run like other clubs on campus, all in the spirit of a collaborative and mutually supportive campus culture.”
The Pride Alliance rejected the YU offer of a club, but one of the plaintiffs in the case, Doniel Weinreich, hailed the university’s decision as a landmark moment for LGBTQ inclusion within Orthodox Judaism.
“This agreement confirms that Torah values and open LGBTQ+ identity are not inherently at odds,” Weinreich said in a statement. “It shows that Orthodox Jewish spaces can remain deeply committed to tradition while also affirming LGBTQ+ individuals. This marks a meaningful step forward for the entire Modern Orthodox community.”
It took less than two months for the YU leadership to realize what they probably had known all along: you can’t have a gay and Jewish Orthodox club unless you’re willing to make big concessions. They weren’t. Most Orthodox Jews probably agreed.
Last Friday, YU issued the following press release:
Dear Members of the Yeshiva University Community, Yeshiva’s undergraduate schools are, of course, fundamentally religious. And that is why the Settlement Agreement that led to the creation of Hareni calls for the Roshei Yeshiva to determine the future of this club, which was designed to support students who are striving to live a fully committed, uncompromising, authentic halachic life within our communities, under traditional Orthodox auspices.
Recent actions and statements have indicated that Hareni is operating as a pride club under a different name and, as such, is antithetical to the Torah values of our yeshiva, as well as in violation of the approved guidelines and of the terms of the Settlement Agreement. There is no place for such a club in Yeshiva. As such, we are directing the Office of Student Life to discontinue this club.
We remain fully committed to guiding our students in their challenges in a manner consistent with halacha.
Two Hareni Club members noted in the YU Observer last week, ahead of the ban, “Our new club was the topic of an episode of halachic headlines. The guests of the show held a variety of opinions.”
“For those with eyes, this is no revelation. For those with hearts to feel, this cannot persist. For those with minds to think, things must change,” they wrote, and added, “Our proposal is simple: The halachic questions are valid, but they are not the issue at hand; the primary focus regarding the basic ways in which we as a community treat our queer members ought to be hashkafic (ideological) and social. The reality is that as much as they might hold strong opinions, universities, clubs, presidents, and roshei yeshiva do not determine how individuals, straight or gay, trans or cis, approach halacha – the individuals themselves do.
“What we can do, what we will do, and what we must do is ensure that every LGBTQ+ Jew is safe, has a sense of wellbeing, a sense of belonging, and can live to their fullest potential. Simply put, before a person can pose halachic questions, they must be able to feel safe in their community, they must have a sense of well-being, and they must still be alive.”
To those readers who wonder, as I have done many times covering this sad story, why gay Jews wish to attend YU in the first place, I must remind you of the words of the immortal Groucho Marx: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”
