Man quits fight over license plate supporting gay rights

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A central Oklahoma man is dropping his fight for a personalized license plate supporting gay rights due to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that he said diminished his chances for a favorable outcome.

John P. Keefe of Edmond said he’s ending legal action against the Oklahoma Tax Commission for denying him a plate that would have read “LGBTALY,” an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ally.

He told The Oklahoman that the Supreme Court ruling in a Texas case left him and his attorney not knowing how their fight was “going to go in our favor.”

A Texas board had denied a request by the Texas Sons of Confederate Veterans for a specially designed plate featuring a Confederate battle flag. The Supreme Court ruled that state-sponsored license plates represent government speech, not that of individuals.

Keefe’s attorney Charles Broadway said they had considered arguing the Texas case applied to the state-sponsored design of the entire plate and not the message spelled out.

“He (Keefe) does think it’s different but he realizes that it would be a real uphill fight,” Broadway said.

Keefe also faces a criminal charge related to his bail bondsman license, and he said that case strained resources he had to pursue the license plate. Keefe was charged May 22 with representing himself as a bail enforcer without a license.

Prosecutors say that Keefe attempted to arrest a woman on a bond issued by the company he co-owns. Court records show that Keefe is a licensed bail bondsman and has completed bail enforcement training, but his enforcement license is pending.

Nearly 50,000 personalized plates are registered in Oklahoma. The Tax Commission denies requests that are offensive, vulgar, gang or drug related, and more than 2,100 letter and number combinations have been rejected.

Keefe has said a commission employee told him his request for a vanity license plate was denied because the term LGBT has a sexual connotation.

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