Indiana made U.S. history today by becoming the nation's first state to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth causes with a specialty license plate.
As Eagle Country Online is reporting, the new plates feature the logo of the Indiana Youth Group, an organization that advocates tolerance and provides training for schools and service agencies, and will be available next month. The specialty plate costs an additional $40 -- $25 of which directly benefits the group.
Though Indiana is not the first state to offer an LGBT-specific license plate (that honor goes to Maryland), ChicagoPride calls the news "a major victory in a state not known for gay rights."
Still, one local driver told the Chicago Phoenix he was apprehensive about the new plates, even fearing that someone may vandalize his car if he used them. “It’s sad that one can have a Jesus fish or some sort of pro-religious sticker on there car, as long as it is some form of Christianity, and you’re golden,” said 25-year-old Michael Gonsiorek. "Call me a wuss, but I don’t have money to fix my car if it was damaged for hateful reasons."
The Indiana Youth Group had been trying to get the LGBT plate approved since 2010. In September of that year, Indiana's American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit again the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles after the request to produce the plates was denied a second time, according to the Indianapolis Star.
View a photo of the planned plate below:
