'JOHN316' License Plate Deep-Sixed by State Agency
by Allie Martin
January 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Vermont man has sued that state's Department of Motor Vehicles after his application to have a personalized license plate with a Christian message was rejected.Last April, Shawn Byrne submitted an application for a personalized plate inscribed with "JOHN316." In May, he received a letter from the DMV informing him that the inscription was "deemed to be a combination that refers to deity and has been denied based on that reason." On appeal, an administrative law judge upheld the DMV's position because the statute governing the license plate program prohibits combinations that refer to "deity," among other things.
Byrne has now sued the state over the matter. He is represented by attorney Anthony Duprey of Middlebury, who is affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund. Duprey contends the state's position is clearly unconstitutional.
"The state of Vermont has created a forum whereby they allow people to make expression within this license plate forum," the attorney says. "But they said if you happen to have a religious perspective, a Christian perspective, then you need not apply. They're discriminating as to what sort of speech people can put on the license plate -- and I think that's very troubling."
According to Duprey, DMV officials have approved other plates that use names and numbers referring to religion. But those officials, he says, have "selectively censored" his client's expression. "When officials suppress speech because they don't like the message of the plate or the viewpoint it expresses, that's illegal discrimination," he says.
The attorney points out another aspect that he sees as discriminatory. "What's important in my client's life is his relationship with Jesus Christ," he explains. "[But] the state said 'Well, we don't want to hear that -- , we don't want you to express that.' But if you've got somebody [for whom] bowling is their big thing in life and that's what they live for, then you're free to put it on the vehicle."
Duprey says he intends to make sure the DMV "will no longer be able to discriminate against anyone based upon their religious views."
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
