EDITORIAL - In Massachusetts, the government is taking on a bill that will ban discrimination against weight and height ... in other words, being a lard ass would be protected the same as your gender or race or age.

There are actually "fat acceptance" movements that want obesity to be a legally protected category against discrimination. They have groups such as the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. A professor of women's studies at the University of Michigan says that this movement is important because it sends a message that fat people are equal citizens. Right now, obese people can seek protection under the Americans with Disabilities act, but they have to prove that the disability is caused by physical traits beyond their control. Well ... guess what? Fat people covered by this ADA definition account for a negligible percentage of overweight Americans. The fact is that people in this country are fat because they choose to be fat ... they choose to eat Big Macs and treat their bodies like dumpsters.

Disability? Hardly. These are people who are engaged in a conscious effort to destroy their own health. Nobody wants to deny blubber butts equal protection under the law ... but what sense does it make to give them a special status under the law? Do we really want to create a special category for people who are not willing to push their bellies back from the table once in a while?

And when it comes to the employers who will be forced to hire lardasses, obese employees cost private businesses in this country about $45 billion a year in medical expenses and absenteeism. Obesity also accounts for a great increase in healthcare costs than smoking or drinking. Give these fat acceptance people their way and employers will have to just absorb the costs.

We're not going to attack the obesity problem in this country by pampering fat folks.