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04/29/2008: "Moves to end the hate-fuelled practice of healthism"

In an overwhelmingly overweight nation that worships thinness, many describe prejudice against the obese as one of the last socially acceptable biases. Advocates for the plus-sized, particularly activists in the "fat acceptance" movement, want obesity to become a category legally protected against discrimination, like religion, race, age and sex. But not everyone agrees.

One such law, to ban discrimination against weight and height, is pending in Massachusetts.

"I think it would help mostly because it would send a message that fat people are equal citizens. It's not in the litigation rates, but the rights consciousness that comes after legislation," said Anna Kirkland, an assistant professor.

[ They want it to be acceptable to engage in self-harming activity - and hate-filled discrimination to show disapproval of it or seek to prevent it. ]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-fatapr28,0,125356.story