Saturday, June 28, 2014
Hasidic Village Accused Of Sex-Segregating Sidewalks
A Hasidic enclave in Orange County that was previously accused of segregating a public park by gender is now allegedly segregating its sidewalks by gender, because if it's not one ACLU lawsuit, it's another.
Failed Messiah spotted the sex-segregating signs on the streets of Kiryas Joel, a Satmar-run village in Monroe, NY. According to the site, the signs, which are in Yiddish, read: "Please stay on the designated sides of the street, especially on Shabbos and Yom Tov afternoon." The women's side is reportedly marked with red signs, while the men's side is marked in blue.
Last year, the enclave was sued by the ACLU and NYCLU after the civil rights groups accused the village of using public funds to build a park that was also segregated by gender. We contacted the ACLU regarding these new allegations regarding segregation, but have not heard back yet.
Update 4:29 p.m.: The ACLU sent us the following statement from Staff Attorney Mariko Hirose:
Segregating public places on the basis of sex can be unlawful just as segregating on the basis of race or national origin is unlawful. We will continue to monitor the Village of Kiryas Joel closely to ensure that it is not unlawfully endorsing or enforcing segregation on the basis of sex in public places.
http://gothamist.com/2014/06/27/hasidic_village_accused_of_sex-segr.php 
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