LPA classifies dwarf tossing as bully behavior. So National Stop Bullying Day on October 13 is an excellent day to remember that bullies can and should be shut down. Take for example how a dedicated group of 22 little people successfully advocated the New York State legislature in 1990 to shut down dwarf tossing contests or promotions in establishments licensed to sell alcohol. The group persuaded the legislature to protect the health, safety, and welfare of people with dwarfism by banning the atrocity. Violators of the prohibition are subject to the suspension or revocation of their license to sell alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption.
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Although the New York Senate bill passed without a hitch, the Assembly bill almost died in both the Commerce and Codes committees. The Commerce Committee questioned the bill’s constitutionality because of its interference with the right of a dwarf tossee to work; and the Codes Committee found the definition of dwarfism too vague.
As the Coordinator of the New York advocacy group against dwarf tossing, carving out time to respond to Committee concerns was difficult. I was working full time and studying for the New York bar exam. But God gave me the strength to do both, along with the prayer support of the women in my Bible study group. And with God’s help I eked out a five-page legal-opinion letter on the constitutionality of the bill and recruited two members of LPA’s Medical Advisory Board—Dr. Cheryl Reid and Dr. Charles I. Scott, Jr.—to help Assembly committee staff draft text that precisely defined the people with dwarfism protected by the proposed law.
After Committee questions were resolved, the bill passed in the Assembly on June 28, 1990 and the Senate on June 30, 1990. The governor’s signature was all that remained. Surely, he would agree that dwarf tossing and dwarf bowling were offensive by any standard of human decency.
July 24, 1990, was a great day—the first of two days of the bar exam. Although I was more than ready to pour out all I had learned onto paper, clearly it wasn’t the exam that made the day great. No, it was wonderful because of a call I received from an AP reporter who told me that Governor Mario Cuomo had signed the New York bill to ban dwarf tossing in licensed establishments! I praised God as I went into day two of the exam. And I’m sure Governor Cuomo appreciated a reporter gracing him with a Humanitarian of the Year Award for hanging tough against some strong criticism for signing the bill into law.
Relief and joy overflowed on September 20 and November 8, 1990, when I opened the mail reporting that I had passed both the New York state bar and ethics exams. God kept all His promises to me:
Not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one word of them has failed.
-- Joshua 23:14, New American Standard Bible
This post is a condensed portion of chapter 11, Biting the Legislative Dust, in “ALWAYS AN ADVOCATE: Champions of Change for People with Dwarfism and Disabilities” now available on Amazon in the US and UK.
4 replies on “Say No To Bullies”
You are so amazing
I can’t take all the credit Sandy. There were 22 working on the bill with me and God blessed our efforts.
What an achievement!
Extraordinary result given that I never even went to the State Capitol in Albany, New York. Again God gets the credit for moving legislators to support the bill to ban dwarf tossing and the LPA team of 22 who worked hard with me to get them to understand the problem.