Mississippi legislature wants to ban fat people from restaurants

[elfwreck]

Originally from ebonypearl, also from ravan.

Mississippi is considering House Bill 282--Description: Food establishments; prohibit from serving food to any person who is obese.The upshot: "Any food establishment... shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health.... The State

Comments

[brock_tn]

One learns to expect this sort of stupidity from Southern legislatures. After all, Mississippi is one of the two states to criminalize the possession of more than five dildoes by a single individual. My own state's General Assembly spent some time a while back debating whether or not they should pass a statute to explicitly authorize the residents of the state to eat roadkill. And then there was the legislator in Arkansas who, at the beginning of every session, would introduce a bill to make Pi equal to three, which would then be killed in one of the committees

[elfwreck]

Many people in wheelchairs have a BMI over 30. Maybe most of them. I wonder how they'll weigh them--or measure their height? (If they've lost both legs at the knees, they'd have to be anorexic not to have a BMI above 30.)

I suspect that the disability issues alone would make it unconstitutional. (If it passed. Which it won't.)

[brock_tn]

If it's not unconstitutional, (and I'm not certain that it is, on its face,) it does seem to run afoul of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Public Accommodations Act. Certainly a person with morbid obesity fits the fairly loose definition of "disability" under the ADA. And therefore the Mississippi bill will be unenforcacble even if it is passed, because Federal law always trumps state law where there's a collision.

[auntbijou]

*shakes head* Ever been to Mississippi? All that Southern cooking where half of everything is fried... three-fourths of the population of Mississippi would be banned from restaurants!

It's not that I can't believe anyone would think this is a good idea, because nothing really surprises me anymore. It's that apparently, the legislature in Mississippi have apparently forgotten that the obese are more than capable of voting their asses out of office!

[brock_tn]

The Four Basic Southern Food Groups:

Sweets
Starches
Fried
Gravy

[feri_hearted]

you have to wonder how many of the legislators would then not be eligible to eat in a restaurant.

[brock_tn]

Yes, I was thinking that same thought...

[sunfell]

Yanno, there are days when my state happily says, "Thank God for Mississippi"- because I am willing to bet that had our Legislature been in session, some goober would have thought something like this up themselves, and made us the laughing stock instead.

[_eljefe_]

So, instead of a welcome mat, will restaurants have welcome scales?

[elfwreck]

Scales and a height thing, like the ones doctors use. Possibly connected with a computer that calculates BMI so you don't have to rely on the operator's math skills or chart-reading skills.

It'll making waiting in line at McDonald's during lunch hour in big cities so much more fun.

Of course, people in offices will just send skinny secretaries to pick up food for everyone; nothing in the bill says that take-out orders aren't allowed--just that, if it's a restaurant, it can't serve fat people.

[_eljefe_]

I wonder if I can get a BMI card certifying that I am under the limit for faster check out.