Lorne Grabher has proudly sported a vanity plate with his last name on it for 25 years—but, just months after Donald Trump’s infamous “grab her by the p*ssy” comments, Canadian authorities refused to renew the Nova Scotia man’s license plate.
“A compliant was received, outlining how some individuals interpret it as misogynistic and promoting violence against women,” said Brian Taylor, a spokesman for Department of Transportation, in an emailed statement. “With no way to denote that it is a family name on the plate, the department determined it was in the public’s best interest to remove it from circulation.”
This license plate has created a man vs. government situation. Lorne Grabher is fighting to get his personalized NS plate back on his car. pic.twitter.com/7HdMkcasM7
— Kelland Sundahl (@KSundahlCTV) March 23, 2017
The Motor Vehicle Act allows for personalized license plates, but also says requests for vanity plates can be denied if they express or imply “a word, phrase or idea that may be considered offensive or not in good taste.” More than 3,000 separate words and phrases have been banned.
But in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Grabher said he was proud of his last name and offended that the Nova Scotia Registry of Motor Vehicles would suggest it was inappropriate. He said it was unfair to associate his last name with Donald Trump and his comments.
“I guess now I’m going to have to take my name out of the phone book because a person’s been offended by it,” Grabher told CBC. “I guess my wife has to change the name of her consulting company, Grabher’s Consulting. That has to be taken away? I guess I’m going to have to change my birth certificate.”
Taylor called the personalized license plates a “non-essential program to the public,” adding that the Department of Transportation had offered to let Grabher pick an alternate wording or receive reimbursement.
“We do not take decisions like this lightly and understand the frustration of the individual,” Taylor said.
Grabher told CBC he hoped someone would help him challenge the Nova Scotia Registry of Motor Vehicles’ decision that his license plate could be “misinterpret[ed] as a socially unacceptable slogan,” as the denial letter put it.
In the meantime, he’s fastened an Alberta license plate bearing his last name on the front of his car, saying that “as far as I know in Nova Scotia we’re allowed to put whatever we want on the front of the car.”
