Howard-- You say one "merely preserves the existing exemption" Do you know if that provision was ever used by a religious organization to refuse to rent to homosexuals in an apartment building owned by a religious institution but not otherwise devoted to religious use?
I've never seen this "rental of housing accommodations" before. Given the nationwide push by the Catholic Conference and CLS, among others, to avoid having to rent to renters whose morals they disapprove, I wonder if this language aided such activity before or if it is a new possibility. The plain language does not preclude this scenario. Marci -----Original Message----- From: Friedman, Howard M. <[email protected]> To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <[email protected]>; Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <[email protected]> Cc: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Jun 26, 2011 7:57 pm Subject: RE: The religious exemptions in the new NY same-sex marriage law The new New York same-sex marriage bill has several different-- and apparently hastily drafted--exemptions. One merely preserves the existing exemption in NY Executive Law Sec. 296. Sec 296 provides: Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to bar any religious or denominational institution or organization, or any organization operated for charitable or educational purposes, which is operated, supervised or controlled by or in connection with a religious organization, from limiting employment or sales or rental of housing accommodations or admission to or giving preference to persons of the same religion or denomination or from taking such action as is calculated by such organization to promote the religious principles for which it is established or maintained. Another provision in the new same-sex marriage bill protects a long list of institutions if they deny "services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage." One of the sets of organizations protected are those listed in New York's Benevolent Orders Law. That law lists 58 different organizations by name in Sec. 2. Presumably drafters were concerned with protecting Knights of Columbus from having to rent their halls for same-sex weddings. KofC is listed in Sec. 2. But so are numerous other organizations that are not religious in nature-- e.g. the American Legion which apparently now can refuse to rent out its facilities for same-sex ceremonies. Though I am not sure that any of these would have been considered a "public accommodation" subject to NY's anti-discrimination law in the first place. Howard Friedman -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] on behalf of Saperstein, David Sent: Sun 6/26/2011 3:30 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Cc: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: The religious exemptions in the new NY same-sex marriage law Marty, Are you suggesting there is no religious tenet component to the title Vii exemption? It is just on religious identity? And if a tenet component? How does it apply to this question? David Sent from my iPhone On Jun 26, 2011, at 2:24 PM, "Marty Lederman" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: A very small, peripheral point: Chip writes that under current NY law, "if a religious organization owns and operates an assisted living facility, and it excludes occupants on religious grounds, and it preaches against same-sex intimacy, it probably would be free to exclude same-sex partners." I have no idea what the existing NY religious exemption looks like -- perhaps it simply exempts religious organizations from the antidiscrimination rules for assisted living facilities generally, in which case Chip's example is surely correct. But if, instead, such organizations only have an exemption to favor *coreligionists,* as under title VII -- i.e., in Chip's words, to "exclude occupants on [certain] religious grounds," namely, that they are not coreligionists -- and *if* such an organization permits only its own coreligionists to live in the facilities (unlikely but not inconceivable), then it likely could not exclude same-sex partners who are of the favored religion. The coreligionists exception, that is to say, is not a license to discriminate on the basis of other prohibited criteria (race, sex, sexual orientation, etc.) merely because such discrimination is religiously motivated -- it only permits discrimination in favor of coreligionists. On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 10:44 AM, Ira Lupu <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Whatever the current law in NY is, this doesn't change it. So if a religious organization owns and operates an assisted living facility, and it excludes occupants on religious grounds, and it preaches against same-sex intimacy, it probably would be free to exclude same-sex partners. Their marital status wouldn't change this. I very much doubt that the organization's power to discriminate extends to investment property. But that's a question of NY Human Rights law, and perhaps someone can enlighten on those details. The important point about the the same-sex marriage law is that it appears to leave that power to discriminate (whatever its scope) undisturbed. On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 4:49 PM, <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: How do folks read the "rental of housing" language? What if a religious organization owns rental property as an investment--does this mean they can reject gay partners even if the property is not otherwise used for religious purposes? Does this differ from current law? Marci Marci A. Hamilton Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law Yeshiva University Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: Marty Lederman <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sender: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:24:50 To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: The religious exemptions in the new NY same-sex marriage law _______________________________________________ To post, send message to <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see <http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see <http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. -- Ira C. Lupu F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law George Washington University Law School 2000 H St., NW Washington, DC 20052 (202)994-7053<tel:%28202%29994-7053> My SSRN papers are here: <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg _______________________________________________ To post, send message to <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see <http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see <http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ o post, send message to [email protected] o subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see ttp://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. nyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can ead the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the essages to others.
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
