DELAWARE: Legislature Approves Study To Implement Digital Driver's Licenses

Several states are looking into digitizing driver's licenses for display on smartphones and Delaware wants to be the first to implement the system. Via the Washington Post:

The Delaware legislature passed a bill last week asking the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles to “study and consider issuing” digital driver’s licenses that could replace the traditional plastic ones. This bill notes that since people in the state are already using their phones for things such as working and banking, so giving them the option for a digital driver’s license could be a way of “increasing convenience” for drivers in the state. And it would just be an option, giving drivers the choice of loading it on their phone or sticking with the plastic card wedged into a wallet. The First State isn’t the first to suggest such an idea — Iowa said last month it planned to have a pilot program testing smartphone driver’s licenses — but Delaware wants to beat them out of the gate, if possible. “We’d like to go first,” said Jennifer Cohan, head of the state’s motor vehicle division, told DelawareOnline. “If it works for Delaware, then it will be a new option for Delaware citizens to show proof of driver’s license and identification.”

The above-linked story points out obvious issues with the plan, noting that a driver pulled over with a dead phone would be a driver without a license. Also of concern are privacy issues - some would be hesitant to hand over their "digital diary" to a police officer.

FLORIDA: Victory For Married Couple Denied Name Change On Driver's Licenses

Via the Orlando Sentinel:

Two gay men from Brevard County who sued the state for refusing to honor their out-of-state marriage and change their names on the driver's licenses on Tuesday won a victory. Scott Wall-DeSousa and Daniel Wall-DeSousa walked out of the Brevard County Tax Collector's office in Palm Bay with new driver's licenses, each bearing their new hyphenated last name. Daniel Wall-DeSousa had stopped driving and cut up his license on Nov. 25 after the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles refused to give him a new one with his married name. "I'm going for a long drive," he wrote in an email Tuesday. The same day, Nov. 25, the couple filed suit in Orlando federal court against the agency and Gov. Rick Scott, accusing them of violating their civil rights.

The couple says they are not dropping their lawsuit against the state. (Tipped by JMG reader Rob)

Matt Baume: Marriage News Watch

Clip recap: "More victories this week in some very conservative states. We're now closer than ever to the start of marriage in Arkansas and Mississippi. Florida is refusing to issue drivers' licenses to a couple after they married and changed their last name. And support for marriage has skyrocketed in Wyoming."

FLORIDA: Couple Sues For Marriage Recognition After Driver's License Denial

A Florida couple has sued the state for the recognition of their New York marriage after being told that they could not register their new names with the DMV. Via the Orlando Sentinel:

Daniel Wall-DeSousa, 40, and Scott Wall-DeSousa, 37, filed suit this week in Orlando federal court, asking a judge to force the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to recognize their marriage. They got married in New York City Dec. 6 and a few days later changed their names through the Social Security Administration, each adding the last name of the other, according to the suit. They both also got new Florida drivers licenses, showing their new last names, but the department then cancelled them. "Same sex marriage certificates are not recognized as valid in Florida," the department wrote in a form letter sent to each man. "Such a certificate from another state is not considered as a legal basis for a name change on a Florida driver license." The men on Tuesday filed suit against the department, its executive director Terry L. Rhodes, Gov. Rick Scott and a manager in the Brevard County's tax collector's office, where drivers license applications are processed, accusing them of violating their constitutional rights and asking U.S. Magistrate David A. Baker to order Florida to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

One of the men, a public high school science teacher, has cut his cancelled driver's license in half and mailed it back to the state, saying that he will walk or ride the bus until his marriage is recognized. In a separate action, he and his husband have asked the Brevard County School Board to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT employees.

The Porn Star Pastafarian

Former porn actress Asia Lemmon (real name Jessica Steinhauser) was allowed to wear her Holy Colander while posing for her Utah driver's license.

Lemmon, who says she is an atheist, said claiming membership in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was a decision she’s proud of. “I’m a really proud, outspoken atheist,” Lemmon said. “I am proud of Utah for allowing freedom of all religions in what is considered by many to be a one-religion state. I wanted to see if I could (wear the colander) in Utah. I wasn’t sure if they would let me.” According to the St. George resident, she met with early resistance at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Hurricane but, presented with printed documents backing up her religious freedom, DMV employees took the photo without question. “It was surprisingly really, really easy,” she said.

She is the fourth American (and first in Utah) known to have been allowed to pose this way for a driver's license photo. Blessed be the Beer Volcano.

FLORIDA: Gay Couple Might Lose Their Driver's Licenses Over Name Change

Via Orlando's ABC affiliate:

A same-sex couple living in Florida who used their marriage license to change their names on their drivers' licenses just received a letter from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles warning them that they are both in danger of losing their licenses. The warning came in the mail after Channel 9 did a story on how Daniel and Scott Wall-Desousa managed to legally change their name with an out-of-state marriage license. "It informs me and notifies me that my driving privileges will be canceled indefinitely as of Nov. 22," said Daniel Wall-Desousa. The Wall-Desousas successfully changed their names at the DMV by showing their marriage license. When Channel 9 reported on the name change, Scott Wall-Desousa said the clerk was told to not ask questions if the license was issued to a same-sex couple and simply grant the name change. "It is a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, and I guess we have been told, 'Here is the repercussion,'" said Scott Wall-Desousa.

The couple has already changed their names on their Social Security cards and says they will sue the state over the driver's license issue. (Tipped by JMG reader Win)

Success For Annise Parker's Daughter

In a tweet I posted earlier today, Parker reported that her kid was being hassled by the DMV because both of her moms' names appear on her birth certificate.

New York's Forbidden Vanity Plates

Thanks to a Freedom Of Information Act demand, the state of New York has handed over its previously secret list of banned vanity plates. Via Village Voice:

The agency says it's meant to be "a guideline to the DMV employee who screens personalized license plate applications for offensive or objectionable words or phrases or messages." And what a list it is: All conceivable spellings of the word "Cock" are banned, along with references to breasts (BOOBS and also B00BS), sexual acts (CO1TUS), menstruation (KOTEX), and, of course, Nazi stuff (WAFFENSS, NOJUDEN). There's even a little Yiddish: PISHER, P1SHER and ESSDREK ("It's shit") are all verboten. In essence, New York has created a hostile environment for the Nazis, sexual deviants, and incredibly stupid, begging-to-be-pulled-over drug enthusiasts on its roads (JUNKIE, DRUGSALE). In the event of the Second Coming, even Jesus can't get the appropriate plates for his sweet post-Resurrection ride: JESUS and UJESUS (?) are both off-limits.

Perusing the quite lengthy list, I see that there are more than a dozen banned variations on 10INCHDK.  Also banned are numerous versions of BIGDIK, HOTDIK, and SEXHOG.

Indiana's LGBT Youth Plate Is Back

An Indiana judge has ordered the reinstatement of sales of the specialty license plate that benefits a local LGBT youth group.

Sales of the Indiana Youth Group license plate were suspended in March of last year after 20 state legislators signed a letter to the BMV on the last day of the legislative session requesting immediate suspension alleging that IYG and two other organizations were selling the low numbered plates. This was the culmination of over six weeks of the state assembly trying to pass legislation to take the plate away from IYG. IYG was using the low numbered plates as thank-you gifts associated with different levels of giving, much the same as premiums being offered with different levels of membership by public radio or television during their fundraising drives.

(Tipped by JMG reader Birdie)

Headline Of The Day

Score one for the FSM. In New Jersey:

Motor vehicle workers in Dayton called police on a man who insisted on wearing a pasta strainer on his head during the taking of his driver’s license photo, according to a police report. South Brunswick police officers responded to the MVC facility on Route 130 on a call that a man renewing his driver's license refused to remove the strainer on his head, according to a police report. The incident occurred about noon on Saturday, Feb. 2. The man, Aaron Williams, 25, who gave an Egg Harbor Township address, told motor vehicle workers the strainer was a religious head covering and he had a right to wear it in his driver’s license photo.

(Tipped by JMG reader Mick)

NORTH CAROLINA: Federal Court Rules Anti-Abortion Plate Is Unconstitutional

A federal district court has ruled that North Carolina's anti-abortion license plate is unconstitutional because the state does not offer a pro-choice version. 

"The State's offering a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice alternative constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment," U.S. District Court Judge James Fox wrote in the ruling Friday. The ruling was praised by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had filed a lawsuit in 2011 to stop the specialty plates. "This is a great victory for the free speech rights of all North Carolinians, regardless of their point of view on reproductive freedom," said Chris Brook of the ACLU. "The government cannot create an avenue of expression for one side of a contentious political issue while denying an equal opportunity to citizens with the opposite view."

State GOP leaders have vowed to appeal today's decision. According to Choose Life America, similar plates remain available in 29 states.

RELATED: North Carolina's plate was approved last year with the stipulation that its proceeds go to support fake abortion clinics who advertise themselves as "pregnancy crisis centers." Desperate women respond to ads that promise "abortion services" only to arrive and face anti-abortion doctors and nurses.  A movement to ban such deceptive advertising has not yet been successful.

DMV Preaching Case Continues

You may recall the case of the men arrested for refusing to stop preaching to a line of people waiting for a California DMV office to open. The arrests were made last spring and this week a judge refused to dismiss the charges. The preachers have issued a press release. An excerpt:

Initially, when Mr. Mackey was arrested, the CHP officer stated that it was illegal to “preach to a captive audience.“ After the defendants were placed in jail and upon learning that no such penal code prohibits preaching to a ”captive audience,“ the officer issued a citation for ”impeding an open business” with threats or intimidation under Penal Code Section 602.1(b). However, the district attorney again changed the charges claiming trespass after the government realized the business was not actually open and, presumably, saw the video showing no threats or intimidation.

The preachers taped the incident, leading some to believe that the entire event was staged to incite an arrest and thereby create a precedent allowing preaching on government property.

Indiana's Gay License Plate Survives

Early this year Indiana approved a specialty license plate to benefit an LGBT youth group. That, of course, sent the American Family Association into a screaming fit and a bill to ban all such plates was shortly submitted. But for this year at least, the gay youth plate has survived its recall attempt.

Indiana House lawmakers have abandoned a plan to clamp down on specialty license plates. Republican Ed Soliday, of Valparaiso, pulled the measure during an evening session tonight just hours before a key deadline in the 2012 legislative session. The plan would have curbed an expansion of specialty plates that the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has awarded to groups including the National Wild Turkey Foundation and the Indiana Youth Group, which supports gay youth.

Soliday says he'll try again next year. (Tipped by JMG reader Betty)

Equality Plate For South Carolina

It's not overtly gay and it doesn't have a rainbow thingy like the one in Indiana, but we'll take it.

We are delighted to announce the SC Equality license plate! The plate will be available on Jan. 30, and is a wonderful way to show support for the LGBTQ community in South Carolina. This plate is not just for the LGBTQ community, but for family members, allies and the community at large! This week, South Carolina joins Indiana as one of three states to claim pro-equality license plates, Maryland being the first in 2008. The license plate was created as a way of allowing residents of South Carolina to publicly display their support of community, culture and policy that encourages and advocates for equal treatment for all South Carolinians, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Nation's First Pro-Gay Plate Issued

And the American Family Association is just ever so pissed about it!

Homosexual activists are celebrating Indiana becoming the first state in the nation to approve a pro-homosexual specialty automotive license plate. The license plate advertises and helps fund a homosexual, bi-sexual, transgender teen recruitment and support center called the Indy Youth Group. $25 of every plate sold goes to the Indy Youth Group. The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles approved the specialty plate after previously expressing concerns about the organization's statewide service. Last year, the ACLU of Indiana sued the BMV over the rejection, but they lost their lawsuit. This is why news of the BMV approval of the controversial plate surprised many.

The head of the Indiana AFA chapter bleats: "You have to question what the BMV was thinking when they approved a license plate for a group which recruits teens into the homosexual lifestyle. Since health risks do not seem to matter, what is to prevent a cigar club from now getting a license plate from the BMV?"

The DMV Is Oppressing Religious Liberty!

Remember the Christianist screams about religious liberty when Christmas carolers were asked to stop annoying the captive audience at a post office? How about if the cops tell you to stop reciting from the Bible to a captive audience at the DMV? The AFA is outraged, I tells ya.

The two men were arrested for reading from the Bible to roughly 50 individuals waiting in line outside the DMV. A security guard told Mackey to stop, and when Mackey refused, a police officer was called and Mackey was arrested. Coronado and another church elder then asked the police officer what law Mackey broke, but instead of an answer, they were arrested as well. Lenny Esposito, president of Come Reason Ministries, argues that there was no legitimate cause for the arrest. Lenny Esposito "From a legal perspective, I think the officer mishandled the situation, and I don't know that he had grounds for arresting these individuals," he says. Officials say Coronado and Mackey could not preach on state property without a permit. But attorneys for the two men say the First Amendment rights of their clients were violated.

The men were charged with one misdemeanor count of creating a disturbance.

DC DMV Offers HIV Tests

Washington DC's Department of Motor Vehicles recently launched a test program offering free in-house HIV tests. The response has been so good, the city has expanded the program to other agencies.

In a city with one of the highest percentages of residents living with HIV or AIDS, health officials have now test-driven the in-DMV testing and are finding that it works. More than 5,000 people have been screened and gotten results while they wait. Now officials are expanding the program, offering testing at an office where Washington residents register for food stamps, Medicaid, and other government assistance. On the first day of the program, 60 people were tested, officials said. As an incentive they’re being offered a $5 gift card to a local grocery store.

Mississippi Considers License Plate Honoring Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard

Mississippi is considering issuing a license plate honoring one of the founding Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan. SRSLY.

Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, notorious for leading a massacre of black Union soldiers and leading the KKK in its early days, would appear on the plates in 2014 if the group Sons of Confederate Veterans gets its way. The organization is sponsoring a series of specialty plates over the next four years to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. This year's plate features the last home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. The state's chapter of the NAACP strongly criticized the call to honor Forrest, who led several battles in Mississippi during the war. "He should be viewed in the same light that we view Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden," Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP in Mississippi, told The Associated Press, adding that the Klan was a "terrorist group."

Reagan sticker, check. Confederate plate, check. Wait, on a Volvo?

Best Vanity Plate Ever

Sadly, the Virginia DMV has revoked the plate.

NJ Approves Anti-Abortion License Plates

New Jersey's DMV has approved an anti-abortion specialty license plate. Sales from the plate go to a Christian "pregnancy care center" where women are counseled about the "moral choice" before them. (In other words, probably one of those fake abortion clinics.) New Jersey becomes the 26th state to approve such a plate since the Supreme Court refused to block them several years ago.