A Complete List of All Places Where Fat Discrimination is Illegal in the US

This is a frighteningly short list. But the ideal list would be even shorter:

• Everywhere

It's encouraging to me that the nation's capitol is included in the current list. Perhaps our Senators and Representatives will absorb the fat rights vibe that exists in D.C., and work actively to create nationwide anti-discrimination legislation. That may be a tad naïve and optimistic (and showing far too much faith in osmosis). But maybe it will be the right environment for it when all those Congresspeople start receiving letters and calls from their constituents demanding fat rights, and loads of brilliant information from organizations such as COFRA.

Proud Michigan resident, right here.

I should add, lucky too. Four areas??

Even in those places, you can still subtly discriminate against fat people, especially in employment. The onus is on the fat person to prove weight-based discrimination.

This needs to change. I like Kelly CS' list...short, sweet, and absolutely necessary.

In Australia, anti-discrimination law doesn't cover body size in any state apart from Victoria. And Victoria's anti-discrimination law rocks:
"In Victoria it's against the law to discriminate against or treat someone unfairly because of their physical appearance, including height, weight, body shape, disfigurement, skin condition, scar or birthmark.
Unfortunately discrimination based on physical appearance isn't illegal in any other state

Aye, the list of where in America it's illegal to discriminate against gay people isn't that long either. Good luck.

Rainalee, whilst that law goes a long way, the devil's in the detail, as they say, and I suspect some of the many exemptions would work against fat people. For instance, under Employment the exemptions state "Employers may lawfully set and enforce reasonable dress, behaviour and appearance standards" (no fat secretaries or receptionists then), whilst the 'special way of providing a service' exemption uses the following example:

For example, it may be lawful for a supermarket not to change its freezer shelving to accommodate people of shorter height, or for a shop not to widen its doors to accommodate a person of large build.

I also noticed that insurance companies are allowed to discriminate against a particular person "if the decision is based on statistical data or other relevant factors and it is reasonable in the circumstances". So higher insurance premiums for those of 'unacceptable' BMI remain legal, since you could bet your life it wouldn't be our statistics on which they based those decisions.

However I did notice that there were no exemptions from the 'physical features' section in terms of Education other than 'dress, appearance and behaviour standards' (which I'm assuming would be used more to enforce school uniform policies than to openly deny fat people entry to college, for instance). I wonder what the implications of this would be on the compulsory weighing / BMI 'report card' schemes so beloved of educators elsewhere, and whether under this law the use of anti-obesity materials in schools would technically be illegal?

Anyway, I'm probably being picky; the fact that weight is even mentioned, never mind given protected class status, is still a very big deal.