Exciting News from New York City!
Image Description: Council Members Shaun Abreu and Nantasha Williams kneel with a group of eleven other advocates standing behind and beside them. The whole group is facing the camera and several are holding signs that say “Yes on INT 0209”. The room has light green walls with white doorways, red patterned carpet, and a chandelier.
Photo Credit: Jackie Malloy
By Tigress Osborn, NAAFA Board Chair
On Thursday, May 12, 2023 the New York City Council voted 44-5 to pass INT 0209, the bill to outlaw height and weight discrimination in the city in employment, housing, and public accommodation.
The bill was introduced by Council Member Shaun Abreu, who talked to CNN this week about how people treated him differently when he gained weight during the pandemic. Prior to Council Member Abreu’s leadership on this issue, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander introduced a similar bill with the help of District Leader Lydia Green.
The legislation becomes law in 30 days, or when the Mayor signs it into law, whichever happens first. Mayor Eric Adams has indicated support for the bill. The New York Times quoted Mayor Adams in their coverage of the bill passage. “We should never treat people differently because of their weight,” he said.
We are grateful to Council Member Abreu’s team, all of the City Council members who co-sponsored or voted yes on this bill, and all of the coalition of advocates who helped get this bill passed – the Retail Warehouse and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Retail Action Project (RAP), and of course, our colleagues and co-founders of the Campaign for Size Freedom, the Fat Legal Advocacy Rights and Education* (FLARE). We are also grateful for Dove’s #SizeFreedom support, as well as to those who testified, wrote letters, made calls, donated money and time, and boosted the signal on social media. It takes a lot of advocates and allies to make this kind of change. We are honored to work alongside so many dedicated community members!
We’ll be sharing more about this exciting news when the bill goes into effect. If you’re in New York (or want to be!) save the date for the afternoon of June 4th, when we’ll be celebrating this bill and the anniversary of the 1967 Fat-In with a party in the Big Apple!
If you haven’t already done so, please sign the petition for Size Freedom to tell lawmakers all over the country that we want to see this kind of change. To support our work on this Campaign, give to NAAFA today.
*FLARE is a project of the Law Office of Brandie Solovay
Photo of Tigress Osborn
About the Author
Tigress Osborn (she/her) is NAAFA’s Board Chair. Tigress joined the NAAFA Board of Directors in 2015 and became Director of Community Outreach in 2017. She is the founder of Full Figure Entertainment in Oakland, CA and co-founder, with activist/blogger Nicholet Deschine Parkhurst of Redstreak Girl, of PHX Fat Force in Phoenix, AZ. Her professional background as a youth advocate, diversity educator, and equity and inclusion consultant informs the fat liberation activism she has engaged in since 2008.