License plate supports GLBT youth

The Indiana Youth Group sued the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in 2010 after having its request for a specialty license plate rejected.

Now, that very plate is available for purchase in support of the youth group, which provides services and programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

The youth group, founded in 1988, is located in Indianapolis and helps fund programs and activities in the group’s headquarters, as well as in more than 35 high schools throughout the state.

The plates cost $40 more than a typical license plate, with $25 directly benefiting the youth group. The plates have been available for order since late December but will be shipped starting in February. The plate has a logo with rainbow-colored hands reaching up in a circular shape.

In September 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit on behalf of the group after two separate applications to the BMV were rejected. The ACLU suit claimed that the BMV used no set standards to decide what organization could have a specialty plate or not. The lawsuit was struck down, but the BMV accepted the youth group’s third application.

“I find myself, just as a citizen of the state and a driver myself, noting messages that people are supporting as they’re driving around,” said Doug Bauder, coordinator of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services.

Indiana is the first state to offer a license plate supporting gay youth, although Maryland was the first state to offer a general GLBT plate. Bauder said he has heard positive remarks regarding the plates and is excited to see them.

“When people support these license plates, we know that they support our gay kids and gay friends,” Bauder said.

Despite his support for the license plates, Bauder said he believes a license plate is just a tiny step for the GLBT community.

“Symbolic things are important, but there is work to be done,” he said. “We had a guest lecturer come to the GLBTSSS, and he indicated that the statistics are still not good in terms of harassment, etc., in schools. Indiana doesn’t fare well. A license plate isn’t enough.”

The American Family Association of Indiana, a chapter of the national nonprofit organization that promotes family and Christian morals, released a statement Jan. 17 refuting the BMV’s decision to sell the specialty plates.

“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,” AFA spokesman Micah Clark said in a press release. “Since health risks do not seem to matter, what is to prevent a cigar club from now getting a license plate from the BMV?”

Clark went on to say state agencies should be careful to promote homosexuality in minors, and that “it is very disappointing that Indiana is the first state in the nation to have a license plate celebrating youth involved in homosexual behaviors.”