Ohio resident William Saki recently attached a license plate reading “GAY” to his Honda sedan after winning his lawsuit against Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) for unfairly blocking him from getting it. The BMV had said that the license plate was “inappropriate,” but Saki says he’s proud of his new plates.

“Gay. It’s who I am. It’s a fact… and it’s who I am and I’m proud of it…. I notice people pointing and taking photos when I drive by – it puts a smile on my face, I like it,” Saki told WEWS-TV, adding that he sued the BMV because, “That’s my free speech they’re messing with.”

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In September, a federal judge ruled that the BMV violated Saki’s free speech rights by denying his license plate applications for “GAY,” “QUEER,” and “HOMO” even though the bureau allowed him to apply for license plates reading, “STR8,” STR8 PWR,” “NO GAYS,” “NO HOMOS,” and “NO F**S.”

The BMV also rejected an application for license plates reading “MUSLIM,” though it accepted applications for “ATHEIST,” “BAPTIST,” “SIKH,” and “HINDU.”

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First Amendment attorney Brian Bardwell took on Saki’s case, saying that the BMV had inconsistent guidelines for rejecting plates.

“The guidelines were very squishy, I think we could say,” Bardwell said. “Somebody wanted Jack Daniels abbreviated, and they allowed that, but they wouldn’t allow Jim Beam. Somebody wanted Zinfandel, and that’s fine, but you couldn’t have Cabernet.”

In a September 11 case dismissal, Judge Dan Aaron Polster of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division wrote that “representatives of the BMV conceded that the BMV had erred in rejecting the vanity plates.”

BMV representatives agreed that they would approve any of the 62,000 forbidden words in their database that don’t meet the standard of being “offensive, disparaging, or socially insensitive.” Additionally, the BMV said it would provide information for drivers to appeal any improperly rejected license plates.

WEWS-TV reached out to the BMV for comment, but the bureau declined to comment. The station’s reporter noted that the bureau is currently involved in a separate lawsuit over its rejection of a license plate reading “F46 LGB,” which the bureau says is potentially offensive.

Still smiling about his “GAY” license plate, Saki told the news station, “I’ll always remember this plate.”

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