H eadlines
LGBTQ Continued from Page 6
of God) in public, which is
a grave sin in the eyes of the
G-d of Israel, and its people,”
according to one email.

While university admin-
istrators allowed the event to
proceed, they issued multiple
statements in the days afterward
distancing themselves from it.

“Homosexual activity consti-
tutes an abomination,” the
school’s five top rabbis said in
one statement. Then-president
Richard Joel and Yona Reiss,
then dean of the rabbinical
school, issued a separate state-
ment saying that public events
must be clear about what
halacha, traditional Jewish law,
says about homosexuality.

“Sadly, as we have discovered,
public gatherings addressing
these issues, even when well-in-
tentioned, could send the wrong
message and obscure the Torah’s
requirements,” they said.

The statements ground to
a halt whatever momentum
some students felt around YU
becoming a more welcoming
environment for gay students. In
more recent years, some students
have reported an atmosphere of
increasing tolerance, including
from Joel, but the university’s
policies have remained firm, and
student efforts to advance inclu-
sion have met roadblocks.

In September 2019, the school
denied students a permit to hold
a Pride march on campus; about
100 marched nearby instead.

Spanjer said she hung flyers
afterward in the main building
of the women’s campus with
mostly anonymous quotes from
LGBTQ students describing the
difficulties they faced on campus.

Within two days, all the flyers
had been removed, she said.

In February, seven student
activists filed a complaint
charging discrimination with
the New York City Commission
on Human Rights. The case
is ongoing. And this fall, the
university denied club status to a
gay-straight student alliance on
campus, meaning that the group
would need to meet off campus.

At the same time, the university
announced policies it said was
meant to make LGBTQ students
feel more included.

Spanjer said she filed a federal
discrimination complaint with
the campus Title IX coordinator,
in keeping with federal regula-
tions that require schools to put
in place procedures for students
to file complaints of description
based on sex or sexual orien-
tation. She said she learned
earlier this month that an inves-
tigation had concluded that the
complaint was unfounded.

Isaacs said she was able to
convince university author-
ities to allow the upcoming
event only by emphasizing that
it is intended to “alleviate the
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negative outcomes associated
with LGBTQ youth who do not
have social support,” not tell
students that it is OK to be gay.

“There is still tension between
many of those with religious
authority and the student
body,” said Isaacs, who said the
“hesitancy” she confronted at
first was “soothed by reiterating
that the panel is not a conver-
sation about religious values,
or even about the university’s
values, but a forum to support
students and further the univer-
sity’s goal of inclusion.”
Since announcing the event
earlier this month, student
volunteers say they have received
a positive response from students
but a muted — and at times
outright negative — response
from university faculty.

One student organizer
told JTA he witnessed two
different faculty rabbis ripping
down flyers he hung up on the
uptown campus to publicize
the event. (While most classes
are taking place virtually due to
COVID-19, the uptown yeshiva
is persevering with in-person
Talmud study.)
The student, who requested
anonymity to avoid backlash,
said he confronted both rabbis
personally before reporting
the incidents to an adminis-
trator and filing two Title IX
complaints. He said the admin-
istrator declined his suggestion
to send out a university-wide
email or take any public stance
condemning the flyers’ removal.

“I would expect this kind of
thing from some of the faculty
rabbis, but it’s more concerning
to me that the administration
wasn’t willing to do anything
about it,” the student said.

Nissel, one of the administra-
tors, wrote in an email that YU
is “striving to create an under-
standing, compassionate and
respectful campus for all our
faculty, students and staff.”
“There is more work to be
done and we are continuing to
design programs and convene
conversations to deepen the
respect and compassion that is
the hallmark of Torah character
and community,” Nissel said.

Rachael Fried, the executive
director of JQY, a nonprofit
that supports Jewish LGBTQ
youth, said compassion is not
sufficient. Research shows that
LGBTQ young adults who
do not feel supported are at
elevated risk for depression
and suicide.

“YU is taking some steps in
the right direction. But it’s not
enough to say you’re a safe and
welcoming space, you have to
prove that with actions,” she
said. “You have to work to build
the trust of a community that
has been systematically rejected
for so long.”
It is “telling,” Fried said, “that
students are not comfortable
with their names being associ-
ated with this event.”
Spanjer said she understands
why that is: “They’re worried
about the response from family,
friends and the possibility of
discrimination from future
employers. .... I’m OK being
out, but I understand that’s a
privileged attitude. Many don’t
have the luxury of a support
network.” Some Orthodox LGBTQ
advocates say the event’s very
existence suggests that the
university has come a long way.

It’s an “undeniable sign of
progress,” said YU graduate
Mordechai Levovitz, who was
on the 2009 panel and said he
faced an intense backlash after-
ward, including having his
social media accounts hacked.

“We can celebrate this while still
saying we can do better.”
Levovitz now works as JQY’s
clinical director. Reflecting
on what has changed since
2009, he said, “Back then, it
was a chiddush that there were
gay people at YU,” he said,
using the colloquial Talmudic
term for a novelty. Today, he
said, it is more open, but “still
dangerous, scary and problem-
atic to be an LGBTQ person at
YU. That’s why it’s so important
to have another panel like this,
so fellow students and faculty
understand what it’s like to be
queer on this campus.” l
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