Israel's religious-leaning Bar-Ilan University is refusing to allow the gay students group to hold a public event on campus to mark Gay Pride Week.

The administration also turned down the group’s request to distribute information at the event, planned for June 22, and instead suggested its members hold a closed lecture with speakers approved by the university.

In explaining its position, Bar-Ilan University spokesman Haim Zisowitz noted that “the university has a religious character and homosexual relations are forbidden in Jewish law.” He then compared the request to a scenario in which a group of pedophiles asks to hold a happening on campus. “You can’t permit a call to action that would violate a halakhic prohibition to occur at a religious university. Holding a demonstration. is saying that we are in favor On the contrary, and don’t misunderstand me, but if a group were to come and say ‘We believe in pedophilia, in allowing sex with minors, and we want to hold a happening’ Any call to break the law is problematic and these are the laws of the Torah. Just think what would happen if a religious university were called upon to hold an event for some organization that calls for a certain law to be broken,” said Zisowitz.

Bar-Ilan’s position came to light following a meeting Tuesday between Omer Makhlouf, head of the LGBT Forum at Bar-Ilan, and dean of students, Prof. Uri Nir, to discuss a formal request to hold a happening on June 22 to mark Gay Pride and Tolerance Month, on the campus’ main plaza, where all events staged by various student groups are usually held.

The group made clear that the event would take into account the sensitivities of the university, which has a religious character, and that its aim was to try to overcome the negative feelings that sometimes exist between the LGBT and religious communities and to disseminate information about the gay community to religious students who may have had no exposure to LGBT groups before. This was made clear both in the formal request to hold the event and during the meeting with Nir.

At the meeting Nir relayed the university’s refusal to hold a public event — a decision that went through the president and the administration. Moreover, Nir said that the group would not be allowed to distribute informational leaflets. Instead the university proposed that an event be held in a closed hall, featuring an academic panel whose speakers had received prior approval from the university and would not represent any organization. Makhlouf says the dean concluded by saying that he “recommends that the student group hold a respectable event that would include different speakers, like psychologists and rabbis, who could offer help to the participants.”

“It is tremendously important to hold a public event, since there is a very large number of students on campus who belong to the gay community but are in various stages of coming to terms with their sexual identity and coming out of the closet,” said Makhlouf. “They don’t come to the group’s regular meetings and they also won’t come to an isolated event that is held in a closed auditorium. The fact that there is a gay students group at Bar-Ilan is important in itself, but it’s no act of charity on the part of the university, when there are other groups – political and non-political – that operate and hold public events without any hindrance or interference from the university.”

“In light of the fact that the gay students group at Bar-Ilan embraces the complexity of the student body there and operates in a considerate and unprovocative manner, we see no reason not to allow them to mark Gay Pride month, and of course we support their activity,” said Gilad Arditi, chairman of the National Student Union. “We also expect a distinguished university like Bar-Ilan to find a fair way to let the student groups function in order to promote these important goals.”

In its official response Bar-Ilan University stated: “Together with the Student Association, the gay students group requested to hold a happening on campus to mark Gay Pride Week in conjunction with organizations from outside the university. In consideration of the university’s religious character and in light of the fact that the event the students requested to hold is not related to academic or student activity, the administration informed the students that it would only approve an event of an academic nature in one of the campus halls – a seminar or a panel – that would deal with issues relevant to the gay community. The university offered to assist the students in organizing the event and recruiting the speakers and attendees. Contrary to what the student organizers assert, the university never proposed to bring ‘rabbis and psychologists who could help the participants,’ but only offered to assist in organizing the event. We deeply regret to see the false way in which the organizers have portrayed the administration’s offer of assistance.”

University spokesman Zisowitz elaborated on Bar-Ilan’s position, noting that “homosexual relations are forbidden in Jewish law. This is explicitly prohibited in the halakha.” He then raised the scenario of “a group who believe in pedophilia, in allowing sex with minors” who want to hold a happening. “Just think what would happen if a religious university were called upon to hold an event for some organization that calls for a certain law to be broken.”

The LGBT Forum at Bar-Ilan operates under the umbrella of the National Student Union and the Association for LGBT Rights.