A student in Oklahoma, USA is suing state officials for barring him from having a personalised number plate that reads "IM GAY".
Keith Kimmel, of the Oklahoma City Community College, says his First Amendment rights have been violated and that he will appeal if a judge rules against him.
He was barred from having the registration plate because of an internal rule at the Oklahoma Tax Commission which bars numbers or words which "may be offensive to the general population".
Mr Kimmel said "I want to tell people who I am and what I am. Im proud of it. Im openly gay. Im not hiding. What better way to tell everybody than to put it on the back of a car?"
He also argued that the Tax Commission had allowed number plates reading "STR8FAN" and "STR8SXI".
"They defended using straight sexy. They didnt think that one was inappropriate but yet Im gay is. I think its kind of a double standard." Said Kimmel
Brittany Novotny, his attorney, has called it "viewpoint discrimination".
Last October, the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) had to withdraw two personalised number plates from an auction after gay rights charity Stonewall said they were offensive.
The numberplates, which read 'F4 GOT' and 'D1 KES', were among 1,600 numberplates which were to be auctioned.
Both registration plates had a reserve of 900 pounds each, but Stonewall argued that they looked like the homophobic terms 'faggot' and 'dyke' and said the DVLA should not be able to profit from them.
Reg
