BRAND NEW YORK — Weight and height were added to the list of protected groups such as race, sex, and religion by New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday, making them off-limits to discrimination.
At a bill-signing ceremony held in City Hall, the mayor and other elected officials and weight-acceptance campaigners argued that people of all sizes should be afforded equal access to employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Adams, a Democrat who wrote a book on how he reversed his diabetes with a plant-based diet, praised the rule, saying it “will help level the playing field for all New Yorkers, create more inclusive workplaces and living environments, and protect against discrimination.”
This month, the city council passed an ordinance that makes exceptions for those whose height or weight would make it impossible for them to do their jobs.
When the council considered the bill, some business leaders spoke out against it, saying that complying would be too much of a hassle.
At a bill-signing ceremony held in City Hall, the mayor and other elected officials and weight-acceptance.
“The extent of the impact and cost of this legislation has not been fully considered,” said Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City.
San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Madison, Wisconsin, are just a few U.S. cities that have passed anti-discrimination measures protecting residents based on weight weight and physical appearance. New Jersey and Massachusetts are just two states where lawmakers have proposed size and height discrimination bans.
The president of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, Tigress Osborn, has stated that the anti-discrimination ordinance passed in New York City should serve as an example for the rest of the country and the world.
According to Osborn, the city’s decision to pass the new rule “will ripple across the globe” and prove that “discrimination against people based on their body size is wrong and is something that we can change.”
The ordinance’s effective date is November 22nd, 180 days from now.
SOURCE – (AP)
