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An uproar over
the license plate erupted over the weekend after a St. Cloud
area resident posted a photograph of the license plate on social
media.
Governor Mark Dayton denounced the plate, saying he was
"appalled" it had been issued in Minnesota and ordering the
Department of Public Safety to get it off the road and take a
second look at approval procedures for personalized plates.
"It is offensive, and the person who requested it should be
ashamed. That prejudice has no place in Minnesota," Dayton said
in a statement issued on Monday.
On his application for the plate, the owner listed alternative
choices as "PETALOL" and "8SLUGTHG," saying all three were the
names of musical bands in which he is a member.
By Monday evening, the state had confiscated the plate.
"We continue to review the process for approving personalized
license plates," Bruce Gordon, state public safety spokesman,
said on Wednesday.
"This personalized license plate should never have been issued;
it is offensive and distasteful," the department said in a
statement. "The Department of Public Safety apologizes for this
error."
Across the U.S. each year, thousands of license plate requests
are denied by motor vehicle agencies that find they violate
state rules. The myriad that have passed the acceptability test
include "DAMNIML8" and "WTF", while those that failed include
"ILVTOFU," "GAY" and "TOILET."
Indiana's Supreme Court in November said the state acted
properly in forbidding a police officer from using a vanity
license plate that said "0INK," reversing a lower court ruling.
But a New Hampshire top court in May ruled against the motor
vehicle department and allowed a driver to obtain a plate
reading "COPSLIE."
In 2012, there were an estimated 9 million personalized license
plates in the United States.
The Minnesota plate that was scrapped this week is "symptomatic
of the overall rise of Islamophobia" in the United States, said
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
"Everyone has a right to be a bigot if they want to, but not on
a state-issued license plate," Hooper said.
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by
Marguerita Choy)
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