OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A Norman resident has sued to get a proclamation of his sexual preference on the Oklahoma license tag he displays on the back of his car.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission turned down the request by Keith Kimmel, 28, last year for a tag saying “IM GAY,” citing a rule against special license tags that “may be offensive to the general public.”

The political science-pre-law student at Oklahoma City Community College filed suit Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court. His suit asks District Judge Noma Gurich to order tax officials to grant his application for the IM GAY tag.

His attorney argues that the Tax Commission’s rule violates the Oklahoma Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.

“I want to tell people who I am and what I am. I’m proud of it. I’m openly gay. I’m not hiding,” Kimmel said. “What better way to tell everybody than to put it on the back of a car?”

Kimmel says officials allowed tags such as STR8FAN and STR8SXI.

“They defended using ‘straight sexy,”” Kimmel complained. “They didn’t think that one was inappropriate but yet ‘I’m gay’ is. I think it’s kind of a double standard.”

His lawyer, Brittany Novotny, calls it “viewpoint discrimination.”

The Oklahoma Tax Commission has issued more than 54,000 personalized tags, a spokeswoman said. Tax officials declined comment Friday on Kimmel’s suit until after they could review it.

In an administrative hearing last year, a Tax Commission attorney argued: “License plates – even personalized license plates – are not the private billboard for the person to whom they are issued. They are still a state license plate.”

A Tax Commission employee denied during last year’s hearing that STR8SXI was about sexual orientation, records show. “I think she’s trying to say, ‘I’m cute.’ That’s just how I personally interpreted it,” the employee said of the tag owner.

Asked about the tag VIBR8R, the employee admitted that could be interpreted as vibrator.

“That definitely slipped through our process,” the employee said.

The three tax commissioners in October upheld the decision to deny Kimmel’s application. They said Kimmel failed to prove during the administrative hearing that his proposed tag would not be offensive to the general public.

Kimmel said he will appeal if he loses before Judge Gurich.