Yeshiva University Students Hold Pride Parade
LGBTQ activists, allies demand GSA at school, greater outreach on queer issues
BY MICHAEL LUONGO
The event along the edge
of Bennett Park kicked
off under a strong midday
sun featuring a
crowd that would eventually number
somewhere in the range of 200.
It was a rare sight in Washington
Heights — a Pride Parade along
West 181st Street — and culminated
in something even rarer:
LGBTQ rights T-shirts, Rainbow
Flags emblazoned with Stars of
David, and loud calls for equality
on the Yeshiva University main
campus. Yeshiva University, among
the most important Orthodox Jewish
educational institutions in the
world, has a long, diffi cult history
in recognizing its LGBTQ student
population.
The September 15 We Too Are
YU march and rally was organized
by Molly Meisels, a senior at YU’s
Molly Meisels and Courtney Marks on the Yeshiva University campus on September 15.
Stern College for Women and the
YU Observer student paper editorin
chief, along with biology major
Courtney Marks, under the auspices
of the YU Student Democratic
Club. Meisels is president of
the Democratic Club, and Marks, a
junior, is vice president of LGBTQ
and Women’s Rights for the club.
MICHAEL LUONGO
YU currently has no Gay-Straight
Alliance and its creation is among
the students’ demands.
Prior to the march, Meisels said
YU’s GSA would take the name
YU Pride Alliance, and that “having
this community, specifi cally for
this issue, is how we get people to
be less afraid.”
RELIGION
Meisels, raised Chasidic in
Brooklyn’s Borough Park, explained,
“I have tried using the
Democrats as a springboard for
LGBT events because we are not
allowed to have a LGBT club.”
She added that queer folks on
campus wouldn’t feel comfortable
marching otherwise.
The students were denied a meeting
with YU President Ari Berman,
a situation Meisels called, “very
disappointing, because if they are
not willing to meet with us, we
can’t plead our case, and nothing
can occur.”
Meisels used the Sunday afternoon
rally to come out as bisexual,
her fi rst time feeling comfortable
enough to do so in a public forum.
Marks also opened up about her
coming out, saying she came out
to her parents shortly before tend-
PRIDE is ageless
➤ YESHIVA UNIVERSITY, continued on p.45
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