Audio By Carbonatix
Independent Journalism in Miami Needs You
We need to raise $10,000 by August 9 to support the reporting our community depends on. Reader support keeps us independent and is playing a larger role in funding local journalism and shaping what comes next. If you believe independent local journalism matters, make a contribution today.
Carmen Cusack, a Miami resident who runs AHIMSA, a local animal rights advocacy group with her husband, really loves tofu. So much so she wanted to proclaim it on her license plate, and requested a vanity plate saying, “ILVTOFU.”
Either Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is rabidly carnivorous, or it misunderstood Cusack’s intention, because her request was denied.
Her rejection letter read, “After careful review, it has been determined that this license plate is considered obscene or objectionable by this department.”
Cusack thinks maybe they thought her license plate meant, “I love to fuck you.”
Fear not, because PETA is on the case.
“The message that shunning meat can save animals, the planet, and our health is not only appropriate but also something that everyone should hear,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement. “The DHSMV could do a lot of good by reconsidering its decision and allowing more people to discover the joy of soy.”
Regardless, Cusack still wants the plate no matter what dirtier minds might think.
“Having a vanity plate is a great way to promote things, especially in Miami when you’re stuck in traffic,” says Cusack’s husband, Matt Waranius.
“We could inspire more people to try tofu, veggie burgers. A vegetarian diet is really one of the best ways to fight off climate change, animal cruelty, and improve your own health.”
A similar case occured earlier this year in Colorodo, which helped inspire Cusack’s case.
“We’re kind of hoping that the Florida decision-makers would be a little bit more open-minded,” Waranius says.
