Legal Resources

Did you know it’s perfectly legal to discriminate against folks on the basis of their body size?

There are a few exceptions (see Santa Cruz, CA; Washington, DC; and San Francisco, CA), but for the most part, fat people (and other glorious paragons of bodily diversity) are not protected by law. This is why Southwest Airlines can charge us for an extra seat on their airplanes, employers can threaten us to lose weight or forfeit our jobs, and fat bashing cannot be prosecuted as a hate crime.

National NAAFA staunchly advocates on the behalf of fat litigants. For examples and further info, visit here. NAAFA and other civil rights organizations have had some luck winning such cases by appealing to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; however, for some fat activists and scholars, it is somewhat controversial and misleading to address fatness under the same auspices as disabilities. *

Nonetheless, those who have experienced discrimination as a result of fatness can potentially get some help by contacting the Persons with Disabilities Law Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Another potentially useful site is the Council for Size and Weight Discrimination.

* This is not to imply people of size wish to distance themselves from disabled persons or in any way hierarchize the two body categories. In fact, many scholars have noticed similar patterns in discrimination and coping mechanisms experienced by disabled persons and fat persons. Furthermore, these categories should not necessarily be regarded as mutually exclusive; some disabled folks are also fat and some fat folks and likewise disabled.