Policymakers
Currently, there are no federal laws in the United States that prohibit weight discrimination. More than 40 years ago, Michigan passed a state law that protects people from weight discrimination. Michigan’s law, called the Elliot Larson’s Civil Rights Act, includes body weight in the statute’s list of protected categories such as race, age, and sexuality. In the past decade, other states have begun to introduce similar laws, though none have successfully passed yet. Massachusetts has repeatedly introduced a similar state law to prohibit weight discrimination, most recently with a bill proposed in both the House and the Senate that would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of weight in employment, housing, and public accommodations. A 2019 opinion piece in The Washington Post by the Rudd Center’s Deputy Director, Dr. Rebecca Puhl, further highlights key issues relevant to this legislation. While Massachusetts has not yet successfully passed this bill, policy makers continue to champion the issue and neighboring states have begun introducing similar legislation. See our policy brief summarizing recent policy efforts.
In the meantime, cities across the U.S. have begun implementing laws at the local level. Localities including Binghamton (New York), Madison (Wisconsin), San Francisco and Santa Cruz (California), Washington (District of Columbia), and Urbana (Illinois) have passed local laws banning weight discrimination. Most recently, New York City passed a law making weight discrimination illegal in 2023.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also provides some legal protection against discrimination to people with ‘severe obesity’ whose weight is determined to be disabling or perceived to be a disability by others. However, many people who experience weight discrimination do not have ‘severe obesity’ and are not disabled by their weight. So, although these efforts may provide legal recourse and protection for some individuals, the vast majority of Americans have no legal protection or recourse if they face weight discrimination. Therefore, it is important for policy efforts to prioritize laws that address weight discrimination as a human rights issue, which will provide broader and more comprehensive legal protection to people of diverse body sizes.
Policies are also needed to help reduce weight-based bullying in youth. Children and adolescents are frequent targets of victimization and harassment because of their body weight. Although most states in the U.S. have anti-bullying laws to help protect youth against bullying, only three state laws (Maine, New Hampshire, and New York) include ‘body weight’ or ‘physical appearance’ as characteristics that place youth at risk for being bullied. Given that weight-based bullying is one of the most common forms of bullying in the school setting, it is important to include ‘body weight’ in anti-bullying policies and laws to better protect youth from weight-based bullying and harassment.
Over the last decade, Rudd Center research studies show that there is substantial public support (especially from parents) to strengthen existing anti-bullying school policies and state laws, by including body weight as a characteristic that places youth at risk for bullying.
Resources
Policy Brief
Anti-Bullying Resources
View our resources to learn more about the importance of including body weight in anti-bullying legislation, as well as key components that should be included in school-based anti-bullying policies.
STRIPED Advocacy Playbook
The STRIPED Advocacy Playbook. This Playbook is a free online resource for advocates to get the guidance they need to engage in advocacy in their own states or communities to advance evidence-informed policies to create healthier environments with the potential to promote body confidence and prevent eating disorders.