The San Francisco Department of Public Health has hired a self-proclaimed “anti-weight-based discrimination” expert to consult on “weight bias and weight neutrality.”
Virgie Tovar, author of “You Have a Right to Stay Fat” and other books on “Fat Positivity and Body Acceptance” Announced on his Instagram On Monday, she announced that she had been hired as an advisor to the department, calling the collaboration “an absolute dream come true.”
“I am incredibly proud to contribute in this way to the city I have called home for almost 20 years,” she wrote. “This consulting experience is a dream come true, and it is my greatest hope and belief that weight neutrality is the future of public health.”
Tovar's website describes her as a “plus-size Latina author, lecturer, and leading authority on weight discrimination and body positivity with over 10 years of experience.”
She is a contributor to Forbes magazine and has featured articles on the “plus-size market.”
Her latest articles include a feature on hosting a “size-inclusive” Thanksgiving and a feature on the alleged “fatphobia” in current TV shows.
It is unclear what role Tovar will play within the department.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for details about Tovar's consulting work.
Tovar has been vocal against diet culture and the BMI index on her social media platforms.
In a video posted by Project Heal, Tovar said that medical professionals have pressured her to lose weight since she was a child, and that medical professionals have put pressure on her to lose weight out of concern for her health. He talked about what he mistakenly believed was the case.
“I truly believed that this was about my health. I used the word 'better' because I truly believed that the doctors were right, but in reality I was suffering from anorexia. “I was in a lot of pain,” she said.
In July, Tovar posted that she conducted weight bias training for unidentified government employees and shared four tips she taught them to reduce “food and body bias in the workplace.”
“1. They don't talk much or at all about how they and others eat at work,” she wrote. 2. Talk less or not at all about your and others' bodies at work. 3. Talk less or not at all about exercise at work. 4. Food, weight, and body size. , or don't assume that exercise is a safe or comfortable topic for everyone to discuss in the workplace.
In another Instagram post, Tovar held up a placard that read “I don't need Ozempic” and said she was offered a free weight loss pill because it wouldn't “solve weight bias.” He revealed that he refused.
She was also critical of the characterization of obesity as a “disease.”
Tovar offers DEI corporate training. The website lists the Seattle Transit Authority, the University of California, Berkeley, and other notable companies as previous clients.
FOX News Digital could not reach Tovar for comment.
