Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has banned weight discrimination in New York City, which critics say has lawyers licking their chops.
Adams signed a controversial bill Friday that bans discrimination based on a person’s weight and height in employment, housing and public accommodations.
“I’m a person who believes in health, so when you talk about not discriminating against someone because of their body type, it’s not fighting against obesity; it’s just being fair,” said Adams.
“So I think it’s the right thing to do,” he continued. “We’re going to continue to talk about our progressive health agenda. Science shows that body type is not a connection to whether you’re healthy or unhealthy, and I think that’s a misnomer that we’re getting rid of.”
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed a bill banning weight and height discrimination on Friday. ((Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
The city’s Commission on Human Rights will investigate weight and height complaints, in addition to more than two dozen other areas of examination, including race, gender and age.
Critics, on the other hand, targeted the bill, saying it would lead to a field day for lawyers and a barrage of lawsuits.
Critics say the law will lead to a flood of lawsuits. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)
Republican New York City Council minority leader Joseph Borelli said the law could open the floodgates for people to “sue anyone and everyone.”
“I’m overweight, but I’m not a victim,” said Borelli, according to the Daily Mail. “No one should feel bad for me except for my struggling shirt buttons.”
The New York Post’s editorial board called the bill a “fat gift to the legal sharks feeding on NYC’s bottom.”
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New York City joins a growing trend to target weight discrimination across the country. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Literacy Partners)
The law is part of a growing trend in the United States. The New York Times reports that lawmakers in New Jersey and Massachusetts are considering similar measures, while other places like Michigan, Washington State and Washington, DC, have already banned it.
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“Health justice” has also become something of an awakening agenda at universities across the country, as progressive academics have moved to eliminate “fatphobia,” or the cultural stigmatization of obesity, including removing the word “obesity” itself, Fox News Digital previously reported.
