Illustration: Todd Franson, Plate photo: Mister Upstate via wikicommons CC
A federal judge has ruled in favor of William Saki, an Ohio man who sued after the state rejected his request for a personalized license plate reading “GAY,” which he sought to mark National Coming Out Day and “express a central part of his identity.”
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) had rejected the plate as “Inappropriate/Invalid,” according to its online registration tool.
Saki then tried to register other plates, including “QUEER” and “HOMO,” but those were also rejected, according to the Ohio-based LGBTQ outlet The Buckeye Flame.
In his complaint, Saki argued that his proposed plates did not violate any of the BMV’s screening guidelines. He noted that when he attempted to register plates expressing anti-gay animus — such as “NO GAYS,” “NO HOMOS,” and “NO FAGS” — all were listed as available.
Similarly, “LESBIAN” was rejected, but a plate reading “STR8” was not.
“Mr. Saki — like everyone else in this country — has a First Amendment right to free speech. He’s out, he’s proud, and [Ohio] Governor DeWine can’t shove him back in the closet just because he’s made a political career out of harassing gay people,” said Brian D. Bardwell, a First Amendment lawyer representing Saki, in a statement prior to the case being heard.
Saki filed a lawsuit against the BMV and the Ohio Department of Public Safety, along with another Ohioan, Cyrus Mahdavi, who had sought to register a plate reading “MUSLIM” to express his religious beliefs.
Mahdavi’s request was also rejected, as was a plate reading “JEW.” Yet other religious identifiers — including “BAPTIST,” “SIKH,” “HINDU,” and even “ATHEIST” — were allowed. The word “Christian” is too long, but the BMV tool shows that plates reading “CHRIST” and “JESUS1” have already been issued.
On September 11, U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster, of the Northern District of Ohio, dismissed the case in favor of Saki and Mahdavi after “representatives of the BMV conceded that the BMV had erred in rejecting the vanity plates.”
In addition to issuing the “GAY” and “MUSLIM” plates, the BMV agreed to review its system and unlock any of the 62,000 forbidden words that “do not meet the three-prong standard of being ‘offensive, disparaging, or socially insensitive’ as set forth in the settlement reached in Zucco v. Caltrider,” Polster wrote.
Polster noted that the BMV “also agreed to provide instructions on its website for applicants who believe their application has been improperly rejected,” and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning Saki and Mahdavi cannot file a similar lawsuit in the future.
“Judge Polster saw right through the BMV’s attempts to silence drivers it doesn’t agree with and ordered them to get back in line with the First Amendment,” Bardwell said, calling the agency’s actions an infringement on free speech.
Saki celebrated Polster’s decision.
“We got lucky with a judge who cut straight to the real question: Are gay Ohioans free to come out and live our lives without the government forcing us back into the closet? Thankfully, our judge knew the right answer and ordered the BMV to let me say who I am,” Saki said.
As of September 16, some LGBTQ-themed plate requests — including “QUEER” and “HOMO” — were still being flagged as “Inappropriate/Invalid,” based on a Metro Weekly test.
The Turning Point USA co-founder, who once declared Pride a “sin” and opposed LGBTQ rights, was killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin's bullet during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
The 31-year-old was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, an organization advocating for conservative politics and education on high school and college campuses.
At the time of the shooting, Kirk, who appeared on campus as part of his "American Comeback Tour," was taking questions from people in the crowd while seated at a "Prove Me Wrong" table in the Sorensen Center courtyard on campus, according to The Associated Press.
The former Kentucky clerk -- and anti-LGBTQ culture warrior -- who went to jail rather than issue licenses to same-sex couples is now targeting the landmark 2015 ruling.
A decade after catapulting to right-wing stardom, Kim Davis -- the former Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who chose jail over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide.
Represented by the anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel, Davis has formally asked the nation’s highest court to strip away the right of same-sex couples to marry.
A Mike Huckabee acolyte and four-time married fundamentalist zealot, Davis rose to fame in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to any couple -- gay or straight -- after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision struck down all state-level bans on same-sex marriage, including Kentucky’s. Ordered to comply, she instead spent six days in jail for contempt of court.
New York City has opened Ace's Place, its first shelter dedicated specifically to serving transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness. Operated in partnership with the Bronx-based LGBTQ nonprofit Destination Tomorrow, the 150-bed facility in Long Island City, Queens, will provide transitional housing and wraparound support services for residents.
Fully funded by the city for now, Ace's Place will receive $65 million to remain operational through 2030. In addition to housing, the shelter will offer on-site psychiatric care, medical referrals, culinary and GED classes, job training, financial literacy and life skills workshops, counseling, and other comprehensive services. Destination Tomorrow will manage day-to-day operations.
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