Riciduling someone as ‘fat’ or ‘obese’ could become a hate crime under an idea being floated by a group of MPs and a leading charity. (HT: The Anti-Feminist)
A report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image and the Central YMCA recommended MPs should investigate putting “appearance-based discrimination” on the same legal basis as race and sexual discrimination.
Under the Equalities Act 2010, it is illegal to harass, victimise or discriminate against anyone on the basis of a number of ‘protected’ characteristics, such as their race, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability.
The parliamentary group, supported by the charity Central YMCA, has today published a report, Reflections on Body Image, recommending “a review into the scale of the problem of appearance-based discrimination and how this would be best tackled”.
It goes on: “This may include exploring whether an amendment to the Equalities Act would be the most appropriate way of tackling such discrimination.”
Under the current act, people can and are prosecuted for verbal abuse if it is deemed serious enough.
