End of vanity-plate free-for-all likely to cause recall of hundreds of vulgar tags, but not in time for summer vacations

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has some advice for the families pouring into her state this summer for a quintessential New England family vacation: “Parental advisory required. Don’t play the license-plate game in Maine.”


Hundreds of cars in the state that calls itself “Vacationland” have government-issued vanity plates that some state officials consider obscene or grossly offensive. About two dozen spell out the F-word, and others easily get the point across without all four letters, a Wall Street Journal analysis of the roughly 115,000 vanity plates found. More than a few are blatantly sexual.

The free-for-all is supposed to end later this year when the state’s new Vanity Plate Review Committee revs up. Its three members—two Bureau of Motor Vehicles staffers and the vehicle services director—will carry out a 2021 state law meant to rein in the rudeness that has made Maine a Wild West of vanity plates.

The law bans derogatory references to, among other things, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion. Also out: plates that connote genitalia, relate to sexual acts or meet the state’s definition of profane or obscene. Plates already on the road that are found to be in violation will be recalled.

For help with arcane lingo, the committee will consult the Urban Dictionary, an online slang compendium. Members might also want to keep handy foreign-language dictionaries and a mirror, as the law covers “mirror images of a word or term otherwise prohibited…even if expressed in a language other than English.” (Several current Maine plates, when seen in a rearview mirror, describes sexual acts.)

For now, says Ms. Bellows, “We have lobster, blueberry pie—and still a few obscene license plates on the road.”

Like nearly all other states, Maine allows residents to get personalized plates—provided the desired letters and numbers aren’t already taken. It costs an extra $25 a year.

Shania Roussel knows she might soon have to give up the plate she got in 2020. It features the F-word plus “AHH”—think “-ER” in a Maine accent. Ms. Roussel, 25 years old, said the seven letters on her Toyota Corolla aren’t a slur but a spicy homage to the Pine Tree State.

“It was like, how can I incorporate my frequent swearing with my love for my state?” she recalls thinking when she selected her plate.

Most people, including out-of-state visitors, seem amused, she says, except for the guy who berated her outside a Dunkin’. But the plate can make for awkward moments, like the time her then-boss asked her to drive her Toyota Corolla to visit a client, rather than take a company car.

“I explained it to him, and he immediately was like, ‘Oh, yeah, no, absolutely not,’ ” she recalls.

For George Fogg, 89, the state can’t slam on the brakes fast enough on vulgar vanities. He was one of more than a dozen Mainers who cheered the new law in emails sent to the secretary of state’s office. “If it can’t be said in front of your mother, I think it’s wrong,” he says.

Residents honked off by new restrictions also sent emails. “I don’t buy vanity plates and actually think they are stupid and - well vain. But I DO NOT AGREE with trampling the 1st amendment because a few people are hurt by it,” wrote John Hawkins.

Until 2015, Maine was part of the clean-plate club to which most states belong. The secretary of state could reject “obscene, contemptuous, profane or prejudicial” vanity plates, or those promoting “abusive or unlawful activity.” The law was changed, in part because of worries it would be found unconstitutional, as happened in some other states.

Matt Dunlap, secretary of state from 2013 to 2021, defended the looser approach, which limited the state to blocking plates that encouraged violence. “A lot of people might find this rather sulfuric in its odor, but that’s the back end of the Constitution,” he told the Journal in 2019.

Over the past five years, dozens of people have complained to the secretary of state about what they saw on the road, including plates combining versions of the F-word with President Biden’s name. Among those emails: “Have we no dignity.” “BEYOND vulgar.” “SERIOUSLY?!?!” “I couldn’t believe it!” “I TAKE OFFENSE OF THESE PLATES!!!!!”

One woman wrote that she didn’t think the First Amendment was designed “to teach little kids expletives on their way home from school.” One man griped about a pickup whose plate bore the F-word followed by YOU. “How,” he asked, “did this obvious moron get this vanity plate?”

Max Nosbisch, manager of visitor experiences at the First Amendment Museum in Augusta, the state capital, says the debate raises interesting legal and philosophical questions. Many of the allegedly vulgar plates, he says, aren’t blatantly so, and require some thought to grasp. “You have to really be paying attention to figure out this is obscene,” he says.

When Mandi Garnett went to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles website looking to get a vanity plate, she says, she tried several that were taken, including MANDI. Frustrated, she typed in UWHORE, a favorite saying she says she took from the 2004 movie “Mean Girls.” The BMV website said it was available.


Mandi Garnett says her tag was inspired by ‘Mean Girls.’ {HER PLATE READ UWHORE] SEEN IN PICTURE WHICH WOULD NOT COPY
PHOTO: CLIFF GARNETT
“I kind of sat there and was like, do I really want this on my license plate?” says Ms. Garnett, a married, 31-year-old mother of two. She decided she did. It is now on her SUV. “I have only gotten one negative reaction,” she says. “It was my mother-in-law.”

Ms. Garnett sees Maine’s crackdown as overreach. “What harm do the license plates do to anybody else?” she says. “It’s not going to burn out their eyes if they see it.”

Also opposed is the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, which Ms. Bellows once led. Anahita Sotoohi, a legal fellow there, testified at a May hearing that the law amounted to unconstitutional censorship.

Ms. Bellows, who took office in January 2021, says she is confident the law can withstand a court fight. By next summer, she predicts, the license-plate game will again be safe to play.

“If you really want to be obscene or profane,” she says, “get a bumper sticker.”

Life isn't all business

LINK https://www.wsj.com/articles/m...9?mod=hp_featst_pos5

Trying to follow Democrat logic.....

You can have an abundance of sexually explicit material in schools where kids are exposed to it, but you can't have a few letters on a license plate because the kids might see it.

Stay classy, Mainers.

(Apologies to PHPaul.)

It's an election year and her (Maine's Sec of State Bellows) 2-year term is up.

Typical election year BS.

[sarcasm]I'm sure the people of Maine want the person who conducts elections to focus on this more important topic the summer before an election. Wouldn't want to focus on election integrity...[/sarcasm]

It’s hard to believe they didnt have some monitors reviewing personalized plates.

Are they going to reimburse the fees to everyone who has their plates revoked?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Until 2015, Maine was part of the clean-plate club to which most states belong. The secretary of state could reject “obscene, contemptuous, profane or prejudicial” vanity plates, or those promoting “abusive or unlawful activity.” The law was changed, in part because of worries it would be found unconstitutional, as happened in some other states.

Won't this fall under a violation of the 1st Amendment and the whole freedom of speech?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Won't this fall under a violation of the 1st Amendment and the whole freedom of speech?

Generally, the courts have upheld these. The usual theory is that they appear to be government speech, or at least be some sort of government sponsored/approved character.

Is this the right or best analysis? I can't say I agree, but it is a distinction that makes some sense. It is sort of loosely like not allowing swearing on the public broadcast spectrum.

And if people can't control themselves (which we know they can't), and the states also can't censor the obscenity, then the states will simply stop issuing custom plates. Most states don't want their name on a plate that says "FUCKYOU."

Once again, I firmly agree with jhe888. (Not unusual, actually)

flashguy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: flashguy,

My buddy in Gray may lose his motorcycle plate, OLDFRT. That is what his ex always called him. LOL. Perhaps he could change it to,OLDFHT, to sound like a native.

I think VA went through this about 20 yrs. ago when one really crossed the line - ZYKLON-B.

They might say it's not a 1st amendment issue because you don't own the plate. (don't know how Maine works)

In my state you're merely renting the plates, sorta, kinda. I have a registration renewal on my desk right now, the "registration" is say $90-100 and there's a separate $30-40 "use fee" or some such term, basically using the plates.

I'm curious how that really works, if I could register a car and not get plates. Tell them I don't need plates because the car doesn't run, but I still want to register it. Might be a fun few minute conversation at the DMV. Of course it'll take an hour and a half to get to have that few minute conversation. lol

TMK, no one, but the state, owns valid license plates.

Might be inherent to the definition of a license, that ownership is retained by the state.

License plates are, pretty clearly, held to be government speech, and able to be censored.

Similar cases about NH’s live free or die motto.

Where there is a will there is a way. In this case Mr Assman wanted his name on the plate and the government refused.

There are some plates that don't need to be issued (IMHO), that contains the ford FUC* or anything similar.

But sometimes, there are some idiots who make the decision NOT to issue a plate.

Years ago, I applied for personalized plate HUMMER via on-line in Nevada, which showed available at the time. I mentioned on the application that it will go to our Hummer H2 vehicle. They accepted the payment. Few weeks late, I got a refund check and a letter saying they cannot approve the application as the plate is OFFENSIVE and SEXUAL in description.

Living in Maine, I've seen many of these "offensive" plates in person.

To be 100% honest, I don't see the issue. Ban the plate, but the bumper stickers remain. So what did the State accomplish? Nothing.

Our new Secretary of State is just a Mass native that is still upset she lost the 2014 election for Senate to Susan Collins in a landslide. That's what she'll be remembered for, and she can't stand it.