By Tigress Osborn, Executive Director of NAAFA

By the time you are reading this newsletter, the world will have witnessed the second presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. Like many of you, and like most social justice organizations, we are bracing for the impacts of changes in the federal government, the media, and other institutions in the wake of the new administration.

Major shifts in the political landscape will always impact NAAFA’s work. NAAFA is a non-partisan organization. That should never be confused with NAAFA being an apolitical organization. We are political in every sense of the word. Our politics today include a deeper, more explicit intersectional commitment than we’ve ever had.

Project 2025 outlines so many ideas designed to harm people in vulnerable communities. This includes so many in fat community. All fat people will face increased systemic hurdles thanks to the healthism, ableism, and anti-fatness espoused by many of the proposed leaders in Trump’s cabinet. Those of us who are also part of other systemically excluded or disenfranchised groups will also be dealing with additional racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, sexism, and more on top of the anti-fatness we must overcome.

NAAFA co-founded the Campaign for Size Freedom because we know that legislation, law, and government policies have huge impacts on fat lives. We know that fat community voices and needs have to be represented within the systems that exist now, as much as possible. We knew that legislative change would be a long-haul fight. Today’s political climate–long before the November election and this month’s inauguration–has been wrought with conservative disdain for any social justice causes that can be labeled “woke.” Treating fat people fairly has been labeled woke politics, something liberals do because they’re coddling us instead of punishing us for having the nerve to exist in non-normative bodies. Size Freedom laws–those that add height and weight to protected classes under civil rights law–can seem impossible in this atmosphere. But they always have seemed impossible, and committed people have been able to get the job done in some places. We’re going to keep trying for more.

NAAFA will continue to work within the system for fat justice regardless of who is in office.  We do not believe that legislation is liberation, but we do believe that change to government policies can be a powerful part of improving fat people’s lives. We’ll also continue to use other strategies to change perceptions of fat, to end size discrimination, and to work in solidarity with all who share liberatory values. We’ll continue the essential work of creating community spaces where fat people can find solidarity and celebration, where we can dream together and create together, because every movement needs art and laughter.

NAAFA has served fat people through eleven U.S. presidential administrations. This is not the first time fat rights work has been an uphill battle, and it won’t be the last. We have fought for fat community for over five decades no matter who was in the White House, the state house, or anywhere else in the government. 

As we fight even harder for fat people, we have to fight even harder in solidarity with other communities. Donate today or join us as a volunteer. Help us remain resilient and resistant as we fight for Size Freedom and all freedom. 

For more thoughts on navigating the Trump political landscape, read Fat Resistance and Fat Resilience Part I in the November 2024 NAAFA Newsletter. To learn more about Project 2025’s impact on communities of color, check out last month’s Anti-Racism Resources compiled by the NAAFA Board.

Other Articles from the January 2025 Newsletter