Maine is fighting for vanity license plates

 A Maine vegan whose custom license plate carries the phrase “tofu” is one of the motorists caught in a state crackdown on vulgar license plates.

car proprietors across the united states can pay an extra fee to customize license plates, sparking creativity and personality but causing headaches for country officers who've to determine what’s applicable.

Maine had for numerous years allowed humans to position pretty much any aggregate of letters and numbers on their automobile plates, together with words and phrases that other states might ban. but the state determined to trade route and this yr recalled 274 plates it deemed irrelevant.

a few humans are preventing lower back.

to date the kingdom has rejected all of the appeals, inclusive of one brought via the vegan whose license plate referenced tofu.

The kingdom concluded the license plate “LUVTOFU” should’ve been seen as a reference to intercourse as opposed to admiration for bean curd. The motorist insisted there has been no mistaking his cause because the again of his vehicle had numerous tofu-associated stickers.

“It’s my protest towards ingesting meat and animal products,” Peter Starostecki, the disillusioned motorist, stated after a zoom session with a listening to examiner for the Maine Bureau of Motor automobiles.

Heather Libby and her best pal grudgingly gave up their matching license plates that contained a word for a girl canine.

“human beings are so touchy in recent times,” stated Libby, of Jonesport, after a listening to examiner rejected her appeal. “I simply think it’s foolish.”

when the country efficiently ended the evaluate system for therefore-referred to as “vanity” license plates in 2015, a few citizens obtained their plates with all manner of profanities, inclusive of F-bombs, either spelled out or abbreviated.

citizens in a kingdom recognized for being laconic and even-tempered soon were sporting uncensored plates pairing the F-word with “snow,” “haters,” and “ALS,” — the incurable nerodegenerative disorder.

After license plate freedoms spiraled out of control, the Maine Legislature directed the Bureau of Motor vehicles to reestablish a machine for vetting the country’s roughly 120,000 vanity license plates.

the new guidelines ban derogatory references to age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identification, national starting place, faith or incapacity. additionally banned is language that incite violence, or is taken into consideration obscene.

Heather Libby and her first-rate pal grudgingly gave up their matching license plates that contained a word for a female canine.

“humans are so touchy these days,” said Libby, of Jonesport, after a hearing examiner rejected her attraction. “I just assume it’s foolish.”

whilst the nation efficaciously ended the evaluation system for so-called “vanity” license plates in 2015, a few residents received their plates with all way of profanities, inclusive of F-bombs, both spelled out or abbreviated.

citizens in a state recognized for being laconic or even-tempered quickly were sporting uncensored plates pairing the F-word with “snow,” “haters,” and “ALS,” — the incurable nerodegenerative disease.

After license plate freedoms spiraled out of control, the Maine Legislature directed the Bureau of Motor motors to reestablish a gadget for vetting the state’s more or less 120,000 conceitedness license plates.

the brand new guidelines ban derogatory references to age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, countrywide starting place, faith or disability. also banned is language that incite violence, or is considered obscene.

“we've got a public hobby in keeping terms and phrases which might be profane or may incite violence off the roadways,” she stated.

She said she’s glad that maximum motorists have relinquished their objectionable license plates with out a combat. up to now, there have been only 13 appeals, but there can be more.

If a motorist loses an enchantment to a hearing examiner, then they could sue in advanced court. up to now, no person has taken that step.

As for Starostecki, he become provided any other registration code that had end up to be had, V3GAN. but he decided he changed into accomplished with vanity plates. He’s expecting a new registration code — a run of the mill one randomly selected via the nation.

Libby, who lost her B-word plate, got a custom plate celebrating her canine Zeus, named for the legendary god of thunder. “that could be offensive to a person because it’s a Greek god,” she quipped. “but i am hoping now not.”