Many overweight people claim to suffer discrimination.
The guidelines underscore an ongoing policy debate over whether obesity should be protected as a civil right or targeted as a major health concern. Advocates for the overweight were the driving force behind the proposal. The inclusion of the size measure in the law was sparked by a man who filed a lawsuit against a fire department for allegedly denying him a job as a firefighter because he was one inch too short. The law since has been used only infrequently. Proponents of San Francisco's law, which requires Mayor Willie Brown's signature for enactment, argue that size discrimination is no different than other forms of discrimination.