I do see the state's arbitrary decision-making as a problem ~ but I'm old enough to remember when sex lives were considered private/personal information ~ Sooz

Georgia sued for banning ‘gay’ license plates
By David Edwards
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 10:23 EST

An Atlanta man says that the state of Georgia violated his constitutional rights to free speech when it denied an application for vanity license plates with the word “gay.”

Two free-speech attorneys have filed a lawsuit on behalf of James Cyrus Gilbert against Georgia Department of Driver Services Commissioner Robert G. Mikell after the the state refused to issue tags that said 4GAYLIB, GAYPWR and GAYGUY. The state, however, has approved religious plates with similar messages.

“It’s not like I was asking for something that was vulgar or over the top,” Gilbert told The Atlanta Constitution. “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 Georgia Department of Revenue has claimed that it is not possible to always be consistent when approving plates because the task is distributed among many different employees with differing views.

“I think it’s pretty clear the statute has been applied arbitrary without regard to any state interest,” said free speech attorney Cynthia Counts, who represents Gilbert. “And the restrictions have reflected viewpoint discrimination and that alone should be fatal.”

An Atlanta Journal Constitution report earlier this month found that Georgia had inconsistently approved vanity tags. For example, BELLY is allowed and UTERUS is not. ENGLAND and SYRIA are okay, but IRAQ and IRAN2 got nixed.

“Really these license plates are one of the primary ways Georgians use free speech,” American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia former legal director Gerry Weber, who is also representing Gilbert, explained to the paper. “Not many Georgians go to rallies, but thousands of Georgians express themselves through these license plates. Think about how many people over the course of a year see your license plate. That’s a huge audience.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/22/georgia-sued-for-banning-gay-license-plates/

Two free-speech attorneys have filed a lawsuit on behalf of James Cyrus Gilbert against Georgia Department of Driver Services Commissioner Robert G. Mikell after the the state refused to issue tags that said 4GAYLIB, GAYPWR and GAYGUY. The state, however, has approved religious plates with similar messages.

So get a GAYXIAN plate.

LMAO!!! ~ LOVE LOVE LOVE that suggestion, oskar ~

Sooz

Being gay is more than just sexuality and shouldn't have to be private, just as being straight is more than sexuality and isn't kept private. Whenever someone says "I have a husband (or wive)" they are annoucing they are a heterosexual.

Right.
So if I say I have a dog you'll be making assumptions?

Please explain what you mean by that?

I'm sorry, but I find it offensive to equate a person having the right to be open and visible about who they are with dogs.

Being gay is not just about who one has sex with -- it's an identity.

It would be like saying there is nothing more to being a man than being a person who has sex with females; or there is nothing more to being a woman than being a person who has sex with males.

Wouldn't you agree that being a man or being a woman is a lot more than just who they have sex with??!

Being male, or being female, is an identity that one has that goes far beyond having sex. Similarly, being gay is an identity that goes far beyond who they have sex with. It's an identity.

Heterosexuals announce to the world every single day that they are heterosexuals in a myriad of ways. Every time a male mentions to his co-workers that he needs to leave work early because his wife just called and she needs him to pick up the kids at school, he is de facto telling them that he is a heterosexual male. Every time a lady says to her friends, "Oh, look at these cute shoes my hubby bought me for my birthday," she is telling them that she is a heterosexual woman.

Furthermore, the straight world has kept gays in the closet for too long, and made gays feel inferior. That is the reason gay pride festivals developed -- to give gays a sense of pride in who they are.

The reason Georgia doesn't want these license plates is because they want gays to go back in the closet. They don't want heterosexuals to realize just how many gays there really are.

But gays won't be invisible any more -- whether Georgia likes it or not.

WHOOSH!

LOL!

Every time a male mentions to his co-workers that he needs to leave work early because his husband just called ...

And what does this say?

I agree with SciFi and I'm very confused oskar, so I guess it's a whoosh moment for me too. Are you agreeing with him or mocking him?

Right.
So if I say I have a dog you'll be making assumptions?

I would assume you like/love dogs.

SciFi, I am a strong supporter of equal rights ~ and I totally agree that we are far more than just sexual beings ~ and no one's sexual orientation affects how I interact with her or him ~ but I don't automatically translate someone saying "my wife" or "my hubby" as being a public declaration of hetero-ness ~ me feeling that some things are personal/private just means I don't choose to share everything with everyone ~ I'm comfortable with my own choices and I don't need or seek anyone else's approval ~ bottom line for me personally: live and let live ~

Having said all that, I noted in the op that I do have a problem with the arbitrary approval/disapproval by the state ~

Sooz

Whenever someone says "I have a husband (or wive)" they are annoucing they are a heterosexual.

I have a problem (not the first time) with those who assume that others make the same assumptions they do.
For example, someone says "I have a husband (or wive)" tells me s/he is married. Nothing more. I do not assume s/he is hetero.
How many married men are gay and are married to disguise that fact?

It's not limited to "married men", oskar ~

Sooz

Well, yeah, but that's stretching it a bit. MOST married couples of the opposite gender are not gay.

Back to the OP. As long as gays are demonized, I can't blame them for wanting to declare their orientation to the world. It's almost the only way for those who hate them to see that they are regular folks. Ya know? So many gay men (other than the very flamboyant) can "hide" their sexuality because they appear hetero.

Would they allow "StudGuy" or "ILVWMN"? There are a slew of ways to proclaim one's heterosexual desires/orientation that may be allowed.

When the day comes that one's sexual orientation is not an issue, I doubt we'll see as many gay pride parades and such. Even if we do, no one will care.

I personally think that he's setting himself for possible harrassment, especially in Georgia. Risky.

Didn't say it was. I'm using an hypothetical example.

It would be like saying there is nothing more to being a man than being a person who has sex with females; or there is nothing more to being a woman than being a person who has sex with males

You are quite correct to saying there is more to being a man or a woman than who you have sex with. However, being straight or gay begins and ends with who you have sex with. Anything outside that is what it is that makes you the whole person you are with who you have sex with - if you have sex at all - being only a small part of the equation.

Oskar, you're nuts. Get over it.

Back to the story: An important part of the situation here with the license plates is that gays have had to hide who they are, and most gays still hide who they are to some people in their lives, either because it was illegal to be gay, or their families would disown them, or they would lose their jobs, or due to embarrassment.

A corollary to that is that because gays were in hiding, it appeared to people who were not gay that there really aren't very many gays to begin with.

A lot has changed in the past the past few years where gays are now saying they won't hide anymore. The more visible some gays are, the more other gays are encouraged to be out and open too. The license plate is just another way to say to the world, "The driver of this car is gay and proud of it, and won't hide any longer."

What is it that I'm supposed to "get over"?