home

GAYSROK in Utah

By TChris, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Thu Jul 28, 2005 at 07:49:18 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

by TChris

States that offer personalized license plates often want to control the message that plate buyers can convey. There's little doubt that states can prevent the issuance of plates that use offensive words (of the George Carlin variety), but it's less clear that states can censor political messages that state bureaucrats find offensive.

The state of Utah can't block a woman from using her license plate to tell the world "GAYSROK," a judge has ruled. The state has no good reason to prevent Elizabeth Solomon from having that plate -- which can be read "Gays are OK" or "Gays Rock" -- or another one saying "GAYRYTS," according to Jane Phan, an administrative law judge with the Utah State Tax Commission.

The judge ruled that a reasonable person wouldn't find the plates "offensive to good taste and decency," not that motorists have a First Amendment right to convey political messages. But state censorship of political messages raises First Amendment concerns, a fact not recognized by Barry Conover, deputy director of the commission, which oversees Utah's Department of Motor Vehicles:

"It kind of opens up the door for all types of people who want to make a license plate a public forum, for every initiative," he said.

Actually, it's Utah that made license plates a public forum by offering a personalized plate option. If Utah doesn't like that policy choice, it should forego the extra revenue it generates by selling personalized plates. Otherwise, it should live with the fact that people in a free country have the right to convey political messages, even if bureaucrats disagree with a motorist's political views.

< Free Larry Peterson | The Aristocrats >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    GAYSROK in Utah | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    "It kind of opens up the door for all types of people who want to make a license plate a public forum, for every initiative," he said." And what, exactly, is the problem with that?

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    Ginger Yellow asked: And what, exactly, is the problem with that?
    Not a thing, in my book. I'm glad to see that free speech lives in Utah, even if a person has to use the courts to enforce that right. I wonder what our conservative friends in Florida think about this ruling, what with the controversy over "Choose Life" license plates in that state?

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    Looks to me like the judge made the right call. I'm surprised the DMV is fighting this. Before a lot of you go off on a conservatives-hate-free-speech sortie, here in Canada I know a couple who were disallowed the license plate "PROLIF" because it was 'divisive'. Canada, as we all know, is quite a bit more neo-liberal than the US. So just give that a think. Leftism is not a friend of truly free speech, only free speech that advocates leftism.

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#4)
    by swingvote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    The only downside to this ruling is that it won't be long before someone else has a plate reading GAYSSUK or something similar. In the meantime, I see no reason to complain.

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#5)
    by Joe Bob on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    I wonder what they would do if you wanted a plate like: LUVBUSH or maybe even LUVDICK. I mean, it is open to interpretation, but in the political sense I'm sure it's sentiment shared by many Utah residents.

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#6)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    Only professional politicians should make political statements. They are experts, and know what they're doing. Do not try this at home!

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#7)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    "Leftism is not a friend of truly free speech, only free speech that advocates leftism." Wow, grad student, you've discovered our dirty secret - all us "leftists", whatever that means, are completely beholden to Canadian bureaucrats. Good job. But hey, Rightism is not a friend of truly free speech, only free speech that advocates Rightism! Touche!

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#8)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    “Rightism is not a friend of truly free speech, only free speech that advocates Rightism!” Not really; the left and right are fairly consistent in the kinds of speech they attempt to regulate and it doesn’t have much to do with speech that advocates the other’s philosophy, at least not directly. The left has bigotry, so-called hatespeech; the right has obscenity. Here in uber conservative Utah I planted a sign on my front lawn, a well-traveled street corner; “Bush-Kerry 2004, four more years of the same crap”. Neither Democrats nor Republicans asked me to remove it.

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    I don't like personalised number plates, but if you're going to have them, then the government shouldn't be regulating what you can and can't say on them. Personalised number plates are quite transparently conduits of self-expression, and hence their content is protected under the first amendment.

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#10)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:43 PM EST
    In Syracuse there was a woman who requested the plate read 'ILUVADK' and the DMV issued it. A few months later she recieved a notice telling her to return the plates because the DMV had recieved a complaint from someone saying that the plate was obscene. The issuee appealed and was able to keep the plates after she explained the meaning of the acronym. In the end it revealed a subconscious mindset of the person who complained that the plate meant 'I love a d*ck' when actually the meaning was 'I love the Adirondacks'! People can be prudish dopes and I don't even want to know what goes on in thier minds.

    Re: GAYSROK in Utah (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    That's right, people are prudes and it is the biggest threat to free speech. The Right believes that if you keep kids and schools from talking about sex, they will never know about it or want to do it. People have the right to air their ideas whereever they want, just put it in people's faces.

    GAYSROK in Utah | 11 comments (11 topical)