‘It Was A Mistake It Was Rejected,’ NC DMV Apologizes And Approves ‘LSBNSNLV’ Vanity Tag

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (NC DMV) has apologized after it denied a vanity tag for its “poor taste.”

Amy Bright requested a license plate ‘LSBNSNLV,’ which roughly translates to ‘lesbians in love.’ She wanted to express her love of her wife.

Related: NC Woman's Vanity Tag Called 'Poor Taste', Denied by DMV

DMV Commissioner Torre Jessup has since approved the application for the "LSBNSNLV" license plate after WFMY News 2 shared Bright’s story. Jessup said he also apologized to Bright for the situation.

The NC DMV issued the following statement:

“DMV Commissioner Torre Jessup has approved the application for the "LSBNSNLV" license plate, saying it was a mistake to have rejected it in the first place. He has left a voice message for Ms. Bright to apologize for the situation and to let her know about the approval. “

Bright was upset because she said her requested plate didn’t involve curse words or hate speech. She also had a similar plate back in 2007.

“I previously had a license plate that said ‘out lesbian’ (OUTLSBN) and I had that plate for years,” Bright said.

The DMV has a team of reviewers that work under the Special Plate Manager. It is up to their discretion whether or not a specialty plate is issued.

The DMV issued the following statement after WFMY News 2’s Jessica Winter' original story aired (last week) before reversing and approving the application.

The statement reads as follows:

State law in North Carolina allows motor vehicle owners to order personalized license plates. Personalized license plates must not be duplicative and may not reflect a message that is "offensive to good taste and decency." Recent Supreme Court case law has deemed state-issued license plates as "government speech" and provides the issuing agency with broad discretion in refusing to issue a plate with an indecent word or meaning.

The DMV said it will now also re-review its list of 7,000 plus vanity tags denied for possible application reversal.

Bright said Commissioner Jessup said the DMV needs to reevaluate their guidelines for specialty plate approval.

“When he called me he said the person reviewing it is the one that rejects it, and he stated that they did not have appropriate guidelines in place and they needed better guidelines.”

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