The state of Georgia has until now banned the issuing of gay-oriented vanity license plates—a policy it will have to defend in court.

James Cyrus Gilbert is suing the Georgia Department of Driver Services, claiming it had no right to deny his requests for personalized license plates that read: 4GAYLIB, GAYPWR and GAYGUY.

The lawsuit followed a story by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that said the state has relied on an arbitrary approval process for vanity license plates. While denying Gilbert’s plates, state officials have approved such terms as HATERS and BEER.

“It’s not like I was asking for something that was vulgar or over the top,” Gilbert told the newspaper. “Denying someone the right to put gay on their tag, that’s political. If I want, I could get a tag that said straight man, but because it had gay on it, it’s not available.”

The plaintiff wants the court to compel the state to approve his requested vanity plate and declare unconstitutional the state regulation governing vanity plates.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

ISUE4U: State Sued Over Banned Vanity Plates (by M.B. Pell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Georgia Bans Some Vanity License Plates On A Whim (by M.B. Pell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Judge Rules North Carolina License Plates Unconstitutional (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)