Ladies and gentleman, another case of heightism has emerged. Yet, even after reading what happened to these two NY women, people will once again dismiss the idea and tell us advocates for the short that we are crazy, have complexes or something else derogatory.
Read for yourself this incident of height discrimination by the Standard Hotel, proprietors of the Boom Boom Room, located in the meatpacking district in NYC…
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/manhattan/lawsuit-claims-nightclub-fired-waitresses-for-being-too-short-20110126
Of course these women, Stephanie Jaggers and Faye Rex, are filing a discrimination suit against the hotel, though, not for height discrimination but gender discrimination. Sadly, that is their best chance for a remedy since there really isn’t any legislation banning height discrimination in NY.
I wonder how much longer this is going to go on. I wonder how much longer society, as a whole, is going to continue to deny (mostly so it can keep practicing it) that this form of discrimination takes place. No other state has passed legislation to ban heightism besides Michigan in 1977 (The Eliot Larsen Act). San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Washington D.C. and Madison, Wi have some protections in place. The states of Massachusetts and Nevada are considering legislation to ban this unfair treatment of us shorter individuals. Bullying in schools, disparities in pay, scarce dating opportunities and harassment in the workplace all plague those of us who aren’t “up to par” (as what was told these two young ladies). Yet, we aren’t offered the same recourse as other groups who have experienced the same amount of oppression.
Maybe, someday, when someone is discounted and mistreated because of their height, they can actually take someone to task for height discrimination and not have to look for another way to get some justice. But, that would mean we would be regarded as equals under the law but apparently, according to the Standard Hotel (the name fits doesn‘t it?), us shorter people don’t quite fit the mold.
The fact that there are so few and limited legal protections for short people allows heightist people the freedom to be cavalier about their actions. Who cares? It's not illegal to fire someone for being too short. That is why laws are necessary. Because without them, people will not voluntarily adhere to a moral code and they will harm each other.
ReplyDelete