MAN SUES OVER GAY LICENSE PLATE

A US college student is suing to be allowed to use an Oklahoma car licence plate with the words “IM GAY” on it.

Twenty eight year old Keith Kimmel has taken the Oklahoma Tax Commission, which is responsible for approving personalised license plates, to court.

He claims in papers filed at a district court that his First Amendment rights, which uphold citizens’ freedom of speech, are being infringed by the Commission’s ban on the license plate.

“I always thought vanity license plates were to express something about yourself,” Kimmel told Advocate.com. “Me being gay is one of my leading traits, so I thought, Hey, why not?”

According the Commission, it is simply applying its policy of rejecting license plates that “may be offensive to the general public”.

In a press statement, Kimmel accused the Commission, however, of “selectively granting and denying applications based on Commission employees’ own personal prejudices and viewpoints”.