(Indianapolis, Ind.) - License plates in support of a Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgendered youth group have been yanked by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
State officials pulled the plates after it was alleged by several members of the General Assembly that the Indiana Youth Group had sold low-digit plates, which is against state law.
Indiana Youth Group executive director Mary Byrne disagrees.
“We are not selling them or auctioning them off. We are using them as thank you gifts for donations,” Byrne said.
The BMV collects $25 from each specialty plate, but the contract signed with the bureau bans groups from selling plates on their own after they have been bought.
A bill to repeal the Indiana Youth Group plate and ten others approved by the BMV in 2011 failed in the state legislature. Byrne accuses conservative lawmakers for having the plate pulled.
“People have been doing this for years and it’s finally the time when the gay kids got a plate, and they couldn’t stand that,” said Byrne.
BMV officials said in a news release that the contract violation was brought to their attention by 20 state senators who sent letters to the bureau.
State Senator Jim Merritt says Indiana Youth Group was not targeted and said two other specialty plates are also being yanked.
“We’re looking at a lot of change and this is just the start of change for this specialty plate program,” Merritt said.
The other two plates affected are for the Greenways Foundation and the Indiana 4-H Foundation.
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