Photo by AlbinoFlea

People find creative ways to say all sorts of things on personalized license plates, but when does something cross the line? The Virginia DMV is currently grappling with that issue, again denying an Iraq war veteran the “ICUHAJI” license plate that he applied to get last year, reports the Virginian-Pilot:

After a judge ruled in November that the Department of Motor Vehicles couldn’t deny a tag on the grounds that it denigrated individuals of a particular nationality, the state has come up with a new reason to revoke Sean Bujno’s ICUHAJI plate.

In a letter from the DMV to Bujno, the agency said the tag – it can be read, “I see you, haji” – condones or encourages violence and is obscene or otherwise vulgar in nature.

“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Andrew Meyer, Bujno’s attorney. “He really means it respectfully.”

Respectfully? Indeed, says his lawyer, who argues that “haji” isn’t meant as a slur, but rather as a variation on “hajj,” the word for the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims are expected to make once during their lifetimes.

Bujno originally had the plate for four years, but it was taken away in 2011 after the DMV rules that they violated provisions banning license plate messages that are offensive to racial or ethnic groups. Last November, though, a court handed the DMV a defeat, saying that the rules violated Bujno’s right to free speech. (As an interesting aside, Bujno’s father had requested “HAJIKLR” license plates and been denied.)

Virginia, Maryland and D.C. all allow personalized license plates, but they’ve all tried to find ways to keep drivers from using them to say things that are considered vulgar or offensive. We recently published a 68-page-long list of things that the D.C. DMV hasn’t allowed on license plates, while late last year Maryland published over 4,000 requests that were rejected. Virginia has recalled plates in the past, including one that it said contained a coded racist message.