A civil liberties group that says the Village of Kiryas Joel may be segregating genders in a municipal park and violating the U.S. Constitution has gone to court trying to get records from the community in upstate New York.
The New York Civil Liberties Union says Wednesday officials in the Satmar village of Kiryas Joel have rejected Freedom of Information Law requests for records about the park’s funding and operation, leaving open the question of whether public money was illegally used for a facility where the genders are separated.
The NYCLU has asked an Orange County court to order the village to release a range of documents.
According to court papers, a village lawyer says the documents don’t exist and it has no information about the park. Kiryas Joel is 48 miles north of New York.
(AP)
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3 Responses
1. If it is a municipal park paid for by taxes, it is subject to government laws. I doubt there has ever been a case about a gender specific park, since such things are routinely done informally. If established to protect women from harassment, it might be lawful.
2. They should be more worried about whether the New York Court of Apppeals would object, since even if the Federal courts allow it, the state courts have equal say in the matter since the frei Jews will be suing under both Federal and state law.
When will these control freaks leave us alone?
Commenter No. 2: Which control freaks are you referring to? The ones who support the US constitution and object to a local government discriminating on the basis of gender, or the ones who want all me to dress alike, all women to dress alike, and men and women should not occupy the same sidewalk or public park? Or, my favorite, the ones who throw rocks at cars whose drivers/owners/passengers do not observe Shabbos and drive on publicly owned and publicly funded streets on Shabbos?