Regular Queerty reader Keith Kimmel often sends us links to great stories around the web. The last one he sent us, however, was about him. And how he’s suing his local government because it won’t let him have his “IM GAY” license plate.
We first heard about Kimmel’s spat with the Oklahoma Tax Commission back in November, but now he and his attorney have filed a formal lawsuit (details here) claiming First Amendment infringement. Something about the government creating no rule barring the freedom of expression?
“Under our state Constitution, all Oklahomans enjoy the right to freedom of speech and an equal opportunity to express their viewpoints,” Kimmel says in a release. “Previous testimony in the administrative proceedings held on this matter have shown that the Commission is selectively granting and denying applications based on Commission employees’ own personal prejudices and viewpoints. The Constitution requires that state rules are viewpoint neutral, with an objective standard that puts the taxpayer on notice of what is legal and what is not. This suit is intended to put an end to the Tax Commission’s unconstitutional practice of subjecting taxpayers to the whim of individual employees.”
We’ve already filed for the sequel to Kimmel’s license plate, “IM GAY 2.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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pogobock
This is all Obama’s fault.
Brian NJ
If Obama would get out there and start busting a few, maybe public officials would not be so brazen. Instead, you get silence form the White House often times on gay issues.
But that Keith Kimmel is a fucking hot in-your-face super-hero hot-rodding rodeo bitch.
tjr101
Oklahoma is one of the most conservative backward states in the union, no surprise here. They keep reelecting that Neanderthal James Inhofe to the senate. I’m sure they wouldn’t have a problem with “i’m christian” as a plate.
Keith Kimmel
@tjr101: And his friend Tom Coburn. And Sally Kern. That last one is going to be ending her reign of terror with this election cycle if I have anything to say about it.
schlukitz
Go get ’em, Keith.
We’re solidly behind you.
Steve
@tjr101:
I’m pretty sure they would not issue a plate that says “i’m christian”.
But only because it has too many letters.
schlukitz
No. 6 · Steve
@tjr101:
I’m pretty sure they would not issue a plate that says “i’m christian”.
But only because it has too many letters.
Xstain might work…LOL
1EqualityUSA
The cutest one I saw was, “WYLDNDN”. “WYLDLEZBN” has too many letters, huh.
Keith Kimmel
@schlukitz: Thanks.
@Steve: Yep, you can only have seven characters including spaces. Among the plates they have issued are many, many pro-god plates. They have denied “GODLESS” and, if I recall, “NO GOD” as well. They approve and deny what they like for reasons that make sense only to them.
Viewpoint based discrimination is rampant in the OTC plate issuing process, and whats even better is they admitted that they decide who gets plates based on their own personal prejudices in the administrative hearings. Vanity license plates are what is legally known as a “limited public forum”. While still state property, the state opened them up for speech by the citizenry when they started allowing people to buy vanity plates. In a limited public forum, the government CAN censor people. But what they cannot do is censor one side of an argument while they let another side go uncensored, because that violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution. This is known as viewpoint based discrimination and it is not allowed. As an example, the government CAN say no religion in schools. What they cannot do is allow a Christian church in while they prohibit a Wiccan church.
Those who live in Oklahoma know that The Oklahoma Tax Commission is quite used to getting its way even when what it wants to do isn’t in the best interests of the citizenry.
Need an example thats not queer rights related? Earlier this year, while most states across the nation are looking at how we can expand the use of alternative clean energy, The Oklahoma Tax Commission decided to cancel several tax exemptions for purchasers of electric cars. There is a company in Ada that manufactures electric cars and employs several people with good jobs that can never be exported. They sued the OTC about the same time my plate case was going through the administrative process.
When I was waiting for the OTC to rule on my plate case at the administrative level, I would go sit at their office (in the lobby – the OTC meets in closed-door executive sessions) every time the Commission met which is usually each Tuesday and Thursday at the M.C. Connors Building in the capitol complex. I would wait and entertain myself while they met until the Tax Commissioner’s general counsel (who, oddly enough, always treated me with uptmost respect and courtesy and always had a smile and welcoming, firm handshake) would come out and shake his heard, to tell me that were not going to take action on my case that day and I would leave, to return the next the three-member circus/kangaroo court convened.
Of course, attorneys for Ada Electric Cars et al also camped out to wait for a verdict in their clients’ case, and I had a chance to talk to them quite a bit. We discussed (among many other matters of law and fact) how sad it was to see a state stuck in the 1950s in terms of thought processes and public policy, but we all felt we as a state had seen some slight movement recently in attitudes and approach. We now believe that the state is stuck in the early 1960s. Oklahoma will get there.
Like the kid at school who takes a little longer to absorb the lesson, Oklahoma will get the lesson and eventually embrace it. Its just going to take them a little longer, and they are going to need a few special ed classes. Honestly, I hope that what I am doing is the beginning of a new trend. A trend in which the OTC no longer gets its way solely because its a government agency.
cherryactrick
It would have been the ultimate vanity licence plate. Very ironic that it was denied its debut into society. I don’t know how to drive, I guess I’ll stick to my “I’m Gay” T-shirt.
Frivolous, but, whadduyu expect ?
Dick Mills
Kieth, I would think that that bright fuschia VW Beetle would be enough to prove to anyone that you’re gay? (Of course I’m just guessing that it was you that I saw driving the gayest vehicle I have ever seen) I also saw a guy with bright pink ski cap in a post related to your story, so if that is you, the hat is equally convincing. 😉
But, aren’t you a little bit concerned that they actually might grant you the license plate? Oklahoma isn’t the most tolerant of places to be making one’s self a target in… just sayin’. It might not really be safe to be so unabashed, in as backwards of a state as OK is???
beano solomon
Keith,
Welcome to the club. I sued the state of Utah about this 4 years ago and WON. The ACLU represented me but we had to go at it through the DMV.
The state said no to the WRONG mom. Good luck in you battle. have your lawyer look up our case but we have already contacted the ACLU in Oklahoma for you.
Keith Kimmel
@beano solomon: Hi Beano, thanks for your well wishes. I have been in contact with the ACLU here in Oklahoma.
Reverend McKenzie
Breaking update!! This is not a joke, I so wish it was.. Oklahoma City news is reporting that Mr. Kimmel has been found dead in his Norman home. Keith was also drug out of a bar and across a parking lot by Tulsa police this past weekend. Mr. Kimmel had already filed charges against the Tulsa Police Department for brutality. This smells a lot like a hate crime to me!