An Atlanta man is suing the Georgia Department of Driver Services claiming that his rights were violated after his application for a vanity plate that refers to his sexual orientation was rejected.
Cyrus Gilbert says he was stunned when he tried to get a personalized plate and was kept from doing so.
His three choices, "4GAYLIB," "GAYPWR," and "GAYGUY," were all denied.
"It infuriates me. Just because it's – why is my question. It's a very simple question but some people can't seem to answer it," Gilbert said.
Cyrus and his attorney, Cynthia Counts, have filed a federal lawsuit against the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Driver Services.
Exhibit B of the lawsuit is a document of hundreds of banned tags.
"Certainly it violates free speech rights. These are social and political ideas. And even just facts: who you are. Gay man, virgin, and they're banning that. That's certainly not permissible under First Amendment. It's too restrictive," Counts said.
Counts and Gilbert say the process is arbitrary. For example, one driver's tag says "HOT Z", but "IMHOTT" is on the banned list.
"It's almost kind of like a pick and choose. They've allowed certain words and certain sayings, but then something that sounds almost the same exact, but maybe like different number or a different letter, they've banned," Gilbert said.
Gilbert said that he wants his personalized tag out of the lawsuit.
The GA Dept. of Driver Services has until the end of the month to respond.
FOX 5 called Driver Services for comment, but they referred us to the attorney general's office. That office said that they're not commenting because of the pending lawsuit.
Tuesday, May 21 2013 10:48 PM EDT2013-05-22 02:48:00 GMT
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