Praise: Indiana License Plates IYG

The Indiana Youth Group is designed for LGBTQ youth in the state of Indiana.

IYG is a cool activity center for all LGBTQ youth and their straight friends/allies. We offer a safe place for you to meet new friends and talk to the staff after school and in the evenings.

They are also now a specialty license plate:


This is not radical, despite the complaints of the bigots.  Micah Clark, Executive Director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said:

"You have to question what the BMV was thinking when they approved a license plate for a group which recruits teens into the homosexual lifestyle. Since health risks do not seem to matter, what is to prevent a cigar club from now getting a license plate from the BMV?"

Entirely incorrect.  First, there is no recruitment.  IYG is a welcoming place that does not and cannot make anyone homosexual.  The American Psychological Association has an excellent brochure that clears up this lie by Mr. Clark.  Sexuality is not something that one acquires by hanging around others.  It is innate.

Second, the health risks of being a homosexual are tremendously exaggerated by Mr. Clark and others in the anti-equality groups.  The greatest risk to gay youth are isolation, bullying, and the bigotry that the American Family Association spreads.  IYG is a healthful solution even as AFA is the problem.

Finally, all kinds of groups have specialty plates in Indiana, including bigoted groups like the Boy Scouts


religious groups like the Freemasons (or quasi-religious if you prefer)


political groups like the National Rifle Association


and many, many more.

This is the second state to offer a specialty plate for an LGBTQ organization.  The first was in 2009 for Equality Maryland.


Thanks to GoPride Chicago for the heads up.