NYC Council votes to ban weight discrimination

New York City lawmakers approved a bill to ban weight discrimination this week, making the city the largest municipality in the country to ban anti-fat bias.

The proposal passed the New York City Council by a vote of 44-5 on Thursday, The Hill reported. The approved legislation will amend the city’s administrative code to make perceived and actual weight and height discrimination illegal in employment, public accommodations, and housing.

The move was spearheaded by Democratic Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who said he was alerted to the need for “changing culture” around weight after he gained 40 pounds during lockdown.

“Just recently someone who I considered to be a friend came up to me and touched my stomach and said, ‘we’re getting bigger there buddy.’ And it just speaks to the toxic culture that exists in the United States when it comes to people that are above their average peers weight,” he said of the experience, per KTVZ.

“People with different body types are not only denied jobs and promotions that they deserve,” he continued.

“Their whole existence has also been denied by a society that has offered no legal remedy for this prejudice. Until today.”

During public hearings, supporters of the bill recounted humiliating experiences navigating restaurants and theaters, being turned away by landlords, and facing weight stigma from their employers, the BBC reported.

One of the New Yorkers who shared their story was self-proclaimed “Fat Fab Feminist” Victoria Abraham, a recent NYU graduate who educates her 120,000 social media followers about weight stigma.

“In most places in the United States, you can get fired for being fat and have no protection at all, which is crazy because this is a very fat country,” she told ABC7 this week.

“Are there gaps in this bill? For sure. But I think it’s the perfect first step,” she said of the city’s new legislation.

Abraham and other activists – including the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), which was a partner on the bill – are backed by troubling statistics.

Studies show that at least 42 percent of US adults say they have faced some kind of sizism, or discrimination based on their size. Weight bias has been linked to lower wages and employment struggles, as well as negative experiences in education starting as early as preschool.

The issue is particularly pervasive for women – especially women of color.

“It’s not a health issue. It’s a civil rights issue,” Tegan Lechler, the advocacy director for the NAAFA, told the BBC about the push to ban weight discrimination.

“This is really about if people are safe and protected and have the right to be in spaces.”

The bill, however, does include the exception for potential jobs in which weight and height are a “bona fide…qualification” for the position.

Despite the widespread support, some critics have argued that the decision to outlaw weight discrimination will open the city up to frivolous lawsuits.

Republican Joseph Borelli, the City Council’s minority leader, told the New York Time earlier last month that the bill would “empower people to sue anyone and everything.”

“I’m overweight, but I’m not a victim,” he insisted. 

“No one should feel bad for me except for my struggling shirt buttons.”

The Partnership of New York City, which represents the interests of small businesses in New York City, also argued that the bill was too broad, KTVZ reported.

“The extent of the impact and cost of this legislation has not been fully considered,” Kathy Wylde, the Partnership’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Testimony at the hearing talked about the problems overweight people face sitting in restaurant and theater seats, bikes having a weight limit, taxi cabs requiring seat belt extenders. All of these things could be considered discrimination under this bill and require costly modifications to avoid fines and lawsuits.” 

With the passage of the bill on Thursday, New York City joined a handful of other US cities that have adopted weight discrimination laws – including San Francisco and Santa Cruz, Calif.; Madison, Wisc.; Washington, D.C.; and Urbana, Illinois, ABC7 said.

Thus far, Michigan is the only state with a state-wide weight discrimination ban on the books, The Hill reported.