EveryBODY Counts: Continuing the Fight for Size Freedom in Delaware
[Image description: NAAFA Executive Director Tigress Osborn joins Representative Sophie Phillips and weight stigma researcher Ragen Chastain with members of Wilmington Fat Collective and the EveryBODY Counts Campaign in front of Delaware Legislative Hall in Dover.]
By Tigress Osborn, Executive Director of NAAFA
Delaware is known as “The First State” because it was the first to sign the U.S. Constitution back in 1787. 238 years later, Team NAAFA and our partners in the Campaign for Size Freedom have been hoping Delaware will set an example of justice and equity by becoming the next state to outlaw discrimination based on people’s body size. We got one step closer in May, but the road to enacting a size discrimination law in Delaware is still a long one.
On May 14, Delaware’s House Administration Committee heard testimony on House Bill 115, which seeks to ban body size discrimination in transportation, public accommodation, housing, commerce and trade, employment, jury selection, education, and public administration. The bill was introduced by Representative Sophie Phillips, co-sponsored by seven other members of the House, and supported by a Senate colleague.
The Committee heard testimony from three expert witnesses: me, weight stigma researcher Ragen Chastain, and attorney Brandie Solovay of the Fat Legal Advocacy Rights and Education project. Fifteen concerned members of the public testified in favor of the bill (nine in person and six via Zoom). One of those testifiers was author Aubrey Gordon, who had been invited by Rep. Phillips as an expert but whose only option to speak was a 2-minute public testimony when, fewer than 48 hours before the hearing, the committee chair decided to limit expert testimony to only three people, two of whom would be required to attend in person. (I was already prepared for in-person testimony. Ragen, who had been planning to testify virtually, made a hero’s journey across the country on only a few hours' notice in order to appear in person!)
Only two people showed up to oppose the bill: a representative of the Chamber of Commerce (who claimed the bill requires employers to ignore industry safety regulations, which is untrue) and a representative of a trade organization for insurance companies. Meanwhile, the bill was endorsed by SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and the Delaware League of Women Voters.
After over an hour and a half of testimony, despite overwhelming urging from their constituents to move the bill forward for a vote on the House floor, the committee opted to take no action on the bill. They expressed concerns about the “subjectivity” of size discrimination, concerns about requirements for doctors (despite the bill only covering healthcare in very limited ways as part of public accommodation), and concerns for workplace safety (despite the bill including provisions for safety regulations). The committee chair stated that she was worried that adding more protected classes to Delaware’s civil rights laws would “water down” civil rights for those groups already covered.
Honestly, the hearing in Delaware was the most disheartening of any I’ve participated in since NAAFA and FLARE co-founded the Campaign for Size Freedom. One member of the committee announced before hearing from the 15 people who had come to testify in favor of the bill that he had already made up his mind to vote “no” based on a single public comment filed ahead of time by email. The committee members were often on their phones during testimony. One person admitted she had not read the entire bill.
People from all over the US watched the livestream of this meeting, and I heard two things from them: The Delaware organizers did a fantastic job, and the committee had already made up its mind on this bill before the hearing. Delaware has not yet made this testimony publicly available as a video or as a transcript, so if you missed the livestream, you may have to wait awhile before you can see for yourself. But here’s what I know – minds can be changed. And our work in Delaware is absolutely not over.
It’s not unusual for it to take more than one legislative session to get any bill passed, in any jurisdiction, in any political climate, on any issue. Size discrimination bills have sometimes taken years. In both New York and Massachusetts, state-level bills have been in the works for many years now. Minneapolis added height and weight to protected classes this year after the very first time their city council considered the proposal. But in New York City two years ago, Council Member Abreu’s successful bill was preceded by another attempt by Council Member Brad Lander. So even though Delaware’s local organizing efforts on this first time out were mighty, we always knew there was a possibility of a multi-year fight.
There’s still the possibility that HB115 could still be passed in this legislative session, which ends in June 2026. The Administration Committee did not vote no on the bill; rather, they opted to take no action. By not holding a vote, they left the door open for the bill to be “walked,” meaning each member of the committee could sign off individually on moving the bill to a House vote. If three members can be convinced to move the bill forward, it goes to the House floor, where we already know that at least eight of the 41 members of the House support the bill. A year is a lot of time to change hearts and minds in the Delaware state house, and there is already support for the bill in the state senate.
The coalition of advocates in Delaware – led by the Wilmington Fat Collective and supported by a cross-movement collection of justice advocates across the state– know that EveryBODY Counts in Delaware, and so do we. We’re by their side for the long haul, and you can help NAAFA support their work and similar work all over the U.S. by making a donation to NAAFA in whatever amount is meaningful to you. Your donations help us do things like provide transportation to local hearings, support organizing meetings, provide educational materials to legislators, and more. Every dollar makes a difference, and if you become a Passionate Ongoing Donor by June 1, you can help us get a $10,000 boost. Visit naafa.org/pod today to sign up for a monthly donation!
