Justice! Ohio Man Who Sued to Get “GAY” License Plate Achieves His Dream

“Gay is who I am — it’s a fact and I’m proud of that,” William Saki said.

An Ohio man has finally received his “GAY” license plate, two months after the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) agreed to relax some restrictions on banned words for custom plates.

In September, William Saki filed a lawsuit against state officials for rejecting his application for a license plate reading “GAY,” arguing such a rejection violated his free speech rights. In a sworn declaration, Saki said that the BMV website had prevented him from registering a plate reading simply “GAY,” which he said he wanted to claim for National Coming Out Day.

The site also rejected attempts to register “HOMO” or “F4G,” Saki alleged, but would have allowed him to register plates with anti-LGBTQ+ messages like “NO GAYS” or “NO FAGS.” Saki’s co-plaintiff, Cyrus Mahdavi, similarly attested that he was unable to register a plate reading “MUSLIM,” though the BMV accepted applications for “ATHEIST” and “HINDU” plates.

The BMV settled the suit just two days after it was filed, as NBC affiliate WCMH reported at the time. Per court documents, the BMV agreed to issue both plates to the plaintiffs and review its database to “unlock any words that do not meet the three-prong standard of being ‘offensive, disparaging or socially insensitive’” under relevant case precedent.

Saki received his plate earlier in the fall and is proud to have it adorn his vehicle, he told ABC affiliate WEWS this week.

“Gay is who I am — it’s a fact and I’m proud of that,” Saki told the station. “To know the state was saying, ‘No, we don’t like that plate. It’s offensive to us.’ That’s my free speech they’re messing with at that point.” Saki added that when he sees people pointing at the plate in public, “it puts a smile on my face, I like it […] I’ll always remember this plate.” (The BMV reportedly declined to comment.)

“I want [others] to know if they want a crazy license plate that isn’t offensive to anyone, then they should be able to go and request that plate if no one already has that,” Saki went on. “Free speech is incredibly important and this is one way we can show that.”

Many U.S. states restrict the words and phrases allowed on vanity license plates; last year, Ohio rejected nearly 1,000 others, like “MVRDER” and “SCAMMER” (sorry, George Santos). But some motor vehicle registries have restricted references to LGBTQ+ identity in general, leading to a steady trickle of lawsuits across the U.S. challenging those policies; in 2020, a California resident successfully sued for the right to own a license plate reading “QUEER.” North Carolina removed hundreds of banned words from its books in 2023, allowing residents to obtain plates with words like “GAY,” “LESBIAN,” and “PRIDE.”

That’s not to say it’s a free-for-all these days at the Ohio BMV. Them’s cursory test of the department’s custom plate application tool on Thursday revealed some gaps still in the system: “LES,” “LEZ,” and “LEZZIE” were all listed as “invalid/inappropriate” plates, but some enterprising sapphic could still snag “LESBOS.” Those who believe their request for an Ohio custom plate was improperly rejected are advised to contact the BMV’s Registration Support Services Unit.