Minneapolis City Council passes ordinance barring discrimination based on body weight and height

The Minneapolis City Council voted 13-0 Thursday to expand civil rights protections, barring discrimination against people on the basis of their height, weight, housing status or because they were formerly incarcerated.

If the ordinance is signed by Mayor Jacob Frey, who supports it, it would go into effect Aug. 1. Minneapolis would become the eighth U.S. city to outlaw weight- and height-based discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations — joining cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., according to the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.

Minneapolis would also become the third city in the nation to prohibit discrimination against people based on their criminal background. Atlanta and Kansas City have similar protections.

Among the changes, employers couldn’t fire someone for living out of their car. Employers also couldn’t deny someone a job based on a 10-year-old conviction without doing an individual assessment. A college couldn’t ban convicted felons. And a prospective employer couldn’t discriminate against someone based on their height or weight.

The civil rights ordinance was sponsored by Council Members Robin Wonsley and Jason Chavez.

During a public hearing last week, Tigress Osborn, executive director of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, said only two states and seven cities have any protections against size discrimination.

People deserve recourse when a doctor won’t treat them, a judge assumes they’re a bad parent or a school or employer won’t give them an appropriate desk and chair, Osborn said.

Cat Polivoda, owner of a plus-size retail shop in Minneapolis, said she hears about kids being bullied and people being denied medical treatment because of their weight. She holds “fat pool parties” that she says people love because it’s sometimes the only time they’ve been at a pool and not felt judged, harassed or singled out.

Several people also testified last week in support of protections against discrimination for people with criminal records, saying it’s difficult to find a job or housing because of their criminal record.

Maurice Ward, who is running for the City Council in Ward 5, said when he came home from prison, he ended up in prison again because he couldn’t find a house or job.

“That’s why recidivism is high,” he said.

Antonio Williams, who served 14 years, returned home almost five years ago and started a nonprofit called T.O.N.E. U.P. (Teaching Ourselves New Examples to Uplift People) to help those who have done time. He said it’s become harder for people in those circumstances, as they are discriminated against “in violent ways.”

Wonsley was overcome with emotion after hearing their testimony, calling it “extremely powerful” and recounting how she has supported a loved one who has spent 15 years in and out of prison and ended up feeling “less than human.”

“I really hope ... that Minneapolis, in passing this, can be a beacon of light for so many cities and other places that they [don’t] have to capitulate to the hate and intolerance that is being spread across the country right now,” she said.

The city already has 15 protected classes in its civil rights ordinance banning discrimination based on race, age, disability, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion or national identity.