New York - The New York Civil Liberties Union and the
American Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit challenging the village of
Kiryas Joel’s refusal to disclose public records about a sex-segregated park.
The park is on 283 acres of unincorporated land and opened
in the Satmar Hasidic enclave last year, according to press reports. Media
photos show that women and girls are confined to areas of the park with red
benches, slides and jungle gyms, while boys and men are confined to areas of
the park with blue equipment.
Separate walking paths re-enforce the
sex-segregation. News reports indicate the park is supervised by the village’s
religious leader, the Grand Rebbe, and its Committee on Modesty. Special
funding was apparently provided by the village’s mayor.
“Public parks cannot segregate based on sex any more than
they can on race or national origin,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna
Lieberman. “New Yorkers have every right to know if this is happening here and
if tax dollars are supporting something so blatantly unlawful.”
In July, the NYCLU and ACLU filed a Freedom of Information
request for records pertaining to the purchase, financing, operation and
maintenance of the park to determine if the park is indeed segregated and if it
was financed with public funds.
But that request was denied in August. NYCLU
and ACLU attorneys appealed the denial, but the village failed to respond to,
or even acknowledge, that request. Under New York law, failure to respond
within 10 days constitutes a denial of the appeal.
As part of the public records request, the NYCLU and ACLU
submitted news articles in which Kiryas Joel officials acknowledged both the
existence of the park and the Committee on Modesty. But village leaders
responded to the information request by denying the park exists.
“The Village has no gender-segregated public park,” wrote
village attorney Donald Nichol. Village leaders also denied knowledge of any
Committee on Modesty, despite prominent signs at the park attesting to the
committee’s authority.
“It’s the law for communities to keep basic financial
records like the ones we requested,” said NYCLU Attorney Brooke Menschel.
“Kiryas Joel’s assertion that such records don’t exist is ludicrous.”
Kiryas Joel has been subject to numerous legal challenges
because of the excessive entanglement of religion in all aspects of village
life. A 1994 Supreme Court ruling cited an unconstitutional “fusion of
governmental and religious functions” in Kiryas Joel.
In 1986, a federal court
struck down a village policy that prevented women from driving school buses in
Kiryas Joel because the policy violated both the Establishment Clause and the
Title VII ban on sex discrimination in employment.
“This is the first report of a sex-segregated public park in
the United States, so it’s important to learn how the park came to be,” said
Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
“We cannot allow religion to be used as a shield for government-sponsored
segregation.”
Joining Menschel and Mach on the case are Mariko Hirose,
Beth Haroules and Christopher Dunn, all of the NYCLU.
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