Mayor Eric Adams who signed the law on Friday said in a statement:
No one should ever be discriminated against based on their height and weight. We all deserve the same access to employment, housing, and public accommodations, regardless of our appearance.
It shouldn’t matter how tall you are or how much you weigh when you’re looking for a job, are out on the town, or trying to rent an apartment. This law will help level the playing field for all New Yorkers, create more inclusive workplaces and living environments, and protect against discrimination.
Adams said
The city’s website provides a brief overview as to what the bill is and how it will be enforced:
Intro. 209-A — sponsored by New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreau — will prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s height or weight in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
This law will also create an exemption for employers needing to consider height or weight in employment decisions only where required by federal, state, or local laws or regulations or where the Commission on Human Rights permits such considerations because height or weight may prevent a person from performing essential requirements of a job and no alternative is available or this criteria is reasonably necessary for the normal operation of the business.
This bill would similarly permit consideration of height or weight by operators or providers of public accommodations. Covered entities under this law would have an affirmative defense that their actions based on a person’s height or weight were reasonably necessary for normal operations.
NYC Councilmember Shaun Abreu added in a statement:
Size discrimination is a social justice issue and a public health threat. People with different body types are denied access to job opportunities and equal wages — and they have had no legal recourse to contest it. Worse yet, millions are taught to hate their bodies. As the global beacon of tolerance, it is only right that New York City is leading the national effort to end size discrimination with the signing of this law today.
Over fifty years ago, hundreds of body positivity activists gathered in Central Park to protest the daily injustices faced by heavier people. While it took way too long to enact something so basic and widely supported, it is only fitting that the most diverse New York City Council in history is the one to enshrine this anti-discrimination principle into law, in the very city where this movement began.
I owe an immense debt of gratitude to all the people who shared their stories of dealing with this silent burden, the organizations who helped spearhead this campaign, and all the advocates who helped push this over the finish line.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
[25] For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. [26] He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: [27] Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. Job 15:25-27
But I guess that would be “discriminatory” and could get me fined and thrown in the jailhouse for daring to tell someone that they need to lose some weight, even politely.
[17] And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. [18] And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. [19] But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. [20] And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. [21] And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: [22] And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. Judges 3:17-22
Again, I’d guess NYC would seek to penalize and possibly imprison me. While this bill does not explicitly go after the Bible, if I were to quote these passages and more that someone deems offensive, it could land me in trouble.
In order to maintain the illusion that the U.S. still has freedom of religion and thought, the Bible will not be outright banned, yet, but a slew of laws that criminalize relative and interpretive hate speech will accomplish the same thing; which is why the church buildings can barely talk about anything anymore.
And that’s the thing that this bill and others like it do not outright say. If the churches are in the backpocket of the government (which almost all of them are), and the city, state, or federal government passes a law like this one that prevents discrimination of fat people, and other bodily appearances (tattoos, piercings, immodesty and indecent dress), then good luck preaching on it lest the leadership gets reported, taxed and fined and possibly arrested.
This applies to anything else the government passes; and is therefore the reason why these churches are so dead and corrupt; because they sold out for mammon a long time ago and this is the result…
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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So will school kids be fined thousands of dollars if they know the words to “fatty, fatty, two-by-four, can’t get through the bathroom door”?
I wonder how much this revenue enhancement law will put into the coffers and pockets of that bankrupt city.
I would say that I feel bad for the men who will now be subjected to a fresh crop of two-ton tillies in their Sports Illustrated swimsuit editions, but I really don’t care.
Oh boy, where do I begin?
I used to be fat, I weighed 234 lbs, yes I was FAT! What now, do I have to say “I was physically ill conditioned?”
The fat acceptance movement has turned everything upside down! No don’t be mean to fat people absolutely not; but at the same time, don’t accept and pat them on the back as they eat themselves to an early grave!
Fat acceptance is DEATH ACCEPTANCE!
Uh-oh. Does this mean they’ll have to outlaw walls so all the doors are big enough to avoid any potential ‘shaming’, & for the dwellers abiding there to be sufficiently ‘welcoming’? Forget ‘palaces’, ‘fig leaf aprons’ and even ‘compartment’ as some of the new perversions have it —it’s a parasol pop-up for you, my pretty….heheheheehe. (If they only knew…)