400-Pound Former Student Sues School Because He Can't Be a Gym Teacher

Two weeks ago, I wrote a column on the Southwest Airlines decision to allow obese passengers who purchase one seat to get one or two more free of charge.

The airline doubled down on that decision, stating it would enforce the policy even on full and overbooked flights. Now you know that Southwest didn’t hatch this idea on its own. The bacon grease lobby, or some other self-entitled group, shamed them into this nonsense. Still, it didn’t have the backbone to say no.

What Southwest isn’t saying, and will never say, is that this is not fair to the other passengers. A big part of being woke is developing the ability to fool yourself into believing that you’re doing something good, when in reality you’re placating a minority group at the expense of the majority. Does anyone believe that Southwest is really going to absorb the loss of revenue from these seats? Nope -- and guess who is going to make up the difference? That’s right: the passengers who can fit comfortably between two arm rests.

Now there’s a new heavyweight in the news, and his sweatpants overflow with obnoxiousness. The Detroit News reported that David Lopez is a 44-year-old man who was a student in the physical education kinesiology program at Wayne State University. He is suing the school for $1 million because he wasn’t allowed to do his teaching virtually.

Lawsuit: Wayne State discriminated against student who wanted to be gym teacher because of weight https://t.co/rBexS37ppJ
— The Detroit News (@detroitnews) December 26, 2023

Keep in mind that Lopez wants to be a gym teacher. That’s not in the same stratosphere as other subjects that can be taught virtually (at times). Lopez, who weighs over 400 pounds, has hypertension, asthma, diabetes, and apparently a lot of gall. In the lawsuit he filed in Wayne Circuit Court he said this:

"They don't think I fit the description of what a PE teacher was because I'm very overweight," Lopez said. "They didn't want me to graduate with my certification because I didn't fit what they perceived to be a gym teacher because of my size and because of my weight. There's no doubt that was the reason why. There was no other reason. I passed everything."

Well, he does have a keen sense of the obvious.

Yes, you do have to be able to stand up and move occasionally to be a gym teacher. White boards and diagrams are part of the package, but a minor part. Too bad you feel so entitled that you have no regard for the students you would supposedly be teaching.

In response to Lopez’s lawsuit, Wayne State said there is no legal claim for weight discrimination against an educational institution. The university also said it does not control the student teaching requirements of districts.

The university called Lopez’s lawsuit “frivolous” and asked that it be dismissed.

Lopez was assigned to Dearborn Public Schools for his student teaching in the winter of 2022, and his doctor gave him an accommodation letter because of his diabetes, obesity, hypertension and asthma. It indicated he could not stand or walk for prolonged periods of time during his student teaching.

Dearborn indicated it would allow him to student teach in a virtual physical education program, but Wayne State would not allow it, according to the lawsuit.

Lopez lamented, "All I'd asked for was accommodations, virtual or through physical accommodations inside a classroom. The school I was at was willing to give me a virtual setting, but Wayne State was not."

Well, hell, if I were blind and a driving school wouldn’t give me an “accommodation,” could I sue them for a million dollars? The fact is Wayne State doesn’t want you as a gym teacher because you’re not qualified to be one. Just because one school was willing to make a colossal mistake and punish every student you selfishly thought you could virtually teach gym to doesn’t mean that every school is that stupid.

"It got to the point where I had no other choice left," Lopez said. "I left with no degree, no certification, no nothing."

This is going to sound incredibly harsh, but instead of wallowing in the fact that you're too obese to be a gym teacher and blaming everyone else, why not try to start losing some weight? Here’s another idea: Instead of thinking only of yourself, try taking the blinders off and being honest with yourself. There are teachers out there who would fulfill the needs of the students much better than you can.

A teacher’s goal should be to educate all students to the best of their ability. That goal includes being able to discern when they are not the best choice to do so.

If Mr. Lopez is so blinded by narcissism that he can’t see why his shortcomings would limit the education of any student, then he has lost the privilege of calling himself an educator.

My fear is that our current judicial system, which at times seems to be no longer based on common sense or fairness but has become a game of chance, will not see the obvious. Mr. Lopez is not qualified to be a gym teacher. That is not conjecture; that is fact. The question is: Will the judicial system force Lopez to face reality, or will it punish students who want a real gym class?

Will the court rule in favor of healthy students who need a mentor, or will it satisfy the selfish whims of a narcissistic man who weighs in excess of 400 pounds and suffers from hypertension, asthma and diabetes?

Normally in the real world this would be a no-brainer, but in today’s woke twilight zone, I’d say it’s 50/50.